


Child of the Devil, Merchant of Death

by MonPetitTresor



Series: Tumblr Prompts and Potential Future AU's [8]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Shadowhunters (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU, Alec and Izzy speak some Spanish, Alec and Tony friendship, Caring Magnus Bane, Crossover, Fluff and Angst, Fusion, Gift Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Iron Man 1, M/M, Magic, Masks, Parental Magnus, Protective Magnus, Softer Tony, Sweet Alec Lightwood, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony has magic, Tony knows Magnus, Tony speaks Italian, Tony-centric, cliches I know, i don't care, shadowhunters au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-16 11:21:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 58,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16953057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonPetitTresor/pseuds/MonPetitTresor
Summary: Based on the question "What would the MCU be like if Tony not only had magic, but a family around him right from the start that CARES?"The world we live in is a lie.That was a truth that Tony Stark had grown up knowing. He’d been raised aware of the world around him in a way that few people were. He knew about the human world – full of the mundane, people who went about their lives with no knowledge of the truth, who never saw what really existed underneath the masks that people wore. He knew about the Shadow world – a place full of horror and beauty, demons and angels, and a war as old as time.And he knew about the Downworld – the monsters and demons, werewolves and vampires, creatures that were thought to be stories, and magic.Tony grew up knowing about all three worlds, and how to survive in each one of them. He learned how to do business with any type of being he might come across, and how to play the part of a diplomat no matter the attitude of whoever he encountered. He knew how to play his part, to be who he needed to be when absolutely necessary, and more often than not choosing not to give a damn about it all.All that changed with one trip to the desert.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Recently, my partner ended up back in the hospital again, this time for pneumonia. One thing led to another, which led to an infection, which led to blood work that isn't making sense, and then a secondary infection kicked in...suffice to say, he's been in there for a while. During his time in there, the two of us discovered the show Shadowhunters, and J fell in love with it. We talked a few times about the potential for an MCU/SH idea, but we didn't find any for me to read to him. And so, this fic was born.
> 
> This story might not be the best. It's really a big ball of fluff later on as we get a chance to see Tony with someone who loves and cares for him. I know that Tony might be a bit different than what you're expecting, but I also believe that Tony IS a different person when he's with someone he loves and trusts to see beyond his masks.
> 
> Either way, I figured I'd put this up here for you guys to enjoy as well if you'd like to. If this isn't your cup of tea, don't worry about it. If it is, i'd love to hear your comments!
> 
> My Shadowhunters characters are based off the TV show - I haven't managed to read all the books yet. So, they should be like the show characters (though I am reading the books right now and I acknowledge that this might cause a bit of book character traits to slip in, though I'll try and prevent that)
> 
> This story IS finished, it's just going through editing :D

The night was cold, and the wind was terrible, keeping most people indoors where they were safe from the storm. There were very few people out, and even fewer that would be out _here_ , in this part of town. The streets were empty enough that there was no one around to watch the lone figure that hurried along. In a dark suit, with a hooded jacket concealing him even more, the man would’ve been unremarkable on most nights.

Unremarkable, save for the small bundle that he clutched to his chest.

With each gust of wind, each threatening drop of rain that spoke of a promise for so much more, the man curled a little more around his bundle, offering up his body for protection against the rain, or whatever else might come.

Just a short block later the man finally turned in towards one of the buildings. It was good timing, too, as the rain finally began to fall in sheets just seconds after the door shut behind him.

Not even on the slippery floor did the man stop. He moved with ease across the lobby of the building towards the two sets of elevators. No one would’ve guessed that this was his first time here. He moved with purpose; a soldier with a mission. One that carried him through the lobby, into the elevator, and up towards the top floor.

As the elevator went up, the man drew himself up straighter, adjusting the bundle in his arms to match. Not even the wet dripping from short dark hair seemed to bother him. Green eyes, sharp and full of intelligence, were fixed straight ahead on the elevator doors. They didn’t waver. When the elevator stopped, and the doors opened, they were already scanning ahead, checking for trouble. They settled on a set of black doors just ahead.

He was only halfway down the hall when the doors opened, revealing a man standing there waiting. He was tall, and on the thin side, though there was a strength to him that was easy to see. Especially for those that knew how to look for it. At first glance, he seemed ready for a night out clubbing. Dark hair was spiked up, streaked through with purple and blue, and his brown eyes were lined in black. Liberal amounts of glitter were in his hair and around his eyes. Dressed up in a pair of tight black pants and a loose red silk shirt that was mostly unbuttoned. In the long, open V of skin exposed, he wore a few silver necklaces that jangled together.

It all made him look gorgeous and otherworldly, and yet at the same time, there was a clear aura of _danger_ around him. It showed in the backs of his eyes, hidden behind a mock-amused mask that wasn’t quite enough to disguise the threat that this being could be.

Then his eyes landed on the bundle in the man’s arms, and all threat vanished under a wave of surprise.

The man never once stopped even as he’d assessed the being in front of him. He just kept walking, right up until he reached the door. He came to a stop only a foot away. Even with the bundle he carried, the man stood at attention, a soldier through and through. “Magnus Bane, I presume?” he asked, voice low and steady. “High Warlock of Brooklyn?”

The being – Magnus Bane, indeed – nodded his head. “That’d be me.” That lithe body twisted a little until he had one shoulder propped up against the doorframe, adopting a casual, almost bored pose. “I’m a bit more curious about who _you_ might be, though, and how you managed to get through my wards like they weren’t even there.” For all the casualness of his posture, there was an edge of steel to his tone, a threat and warning rolled together into one.

Shifting his arms a little, the man adjusted his hold until he could free up one hand to reach down into his pocket. Slowly, and with deliberate moves that could easily be seen, he withdrew a single gold coin from his pocket. It was a very, very old coin, clearly worn in places with age. The man held it up between two fingers so that the sigil on it was clear to see. “A friend gave me this token and told me to come here. She said it would let me inside.” Twisting his fingers and hand, he laid the coin flat on his palm and held it out towards Magnus, never once taking his eyes off him. “My name is Edwin Jarvis, sir, and I need your help.”

Magnus’ eyes flashed between Edwin’s face, the coin in his hand, and the blanket in his arms. One or all of them must’ve been enough to at least peak his interest. He took a step back and made a sweeping gesture with one hand. “Come in. I get the feeling this is a story I should probably hear inside.”

* * *

The loft was quiet when the two men settled down in the sitting area. It was a little empty, only a few bits of furniture in blacks, golds, and reds were there. Something in the way that Edwin looked through the room must’ve given away his thoughts, because Magnus chuckled a little as he sank down into an overstuffed chair, lazily kicking one leg up to dangle over the armrest. “You’ll have to excuse the lackluster decorations. I’m in the middle of remodeling, and I wasn’t exactly expecting any guests.”

Edwin said nothing on it. He sank down onto the couch and absently tugged on the blanket, making sure his cargo was even more protected.

“So who was it that sent you to me?” Magnus asked. One corner of his mouth quirked up. “And what exactly is it I’m expected to do? Keep in mind I don’t do favors for free, Edwin Jarvis. Not even for a pretty mundane, Sight or no.”

Being called pretty didn’t phase Edwin in the least bit. He was well used to being in strange situations; this definitely ranked in the top five, but it wasn’t the top of the list. He’d faced far worse than a dangerous warlock. And for what he was protecting, he would willingly go to them all if that was what it took. “A woman by the name of Catarina Loss sent me to you. She apologized for not being able to come herself, but she’s quite busy with a flu epidemic and was unable to get away.”

The name ‘Catarina’ had Magnus paying much closer attention. Though he didn’t move, it was clear his focus was right on Edwin.

Carefully, Edwin moved his arms and began to draw the blankets back, slowly revealing the small, sleeping infant inside. The sight of the little boy was enough to pull in a soft, surprised breath from their host. That one look was all it took to explain why they were here. This was no ordinary child.

Magnus’ eyes were glittering as he leaned forward, taking in every inch of the young warlock in front of him. The golden tanned skin that was almost completely covered in small, dark red scales. They had to take up a good eighty to ninety percent of his body. And from his tiny, clenched fists, there was a hint of what looked to be claws peeking out. “His eyes are red,” Edwin said softly. “Red, with hints of gold, and a vertical slit pupil.”

“That’s one hell of a Mark,” Magnus murmured. “I see why you need help. His mother…”

“Loves her child dearly,” Edwin said firmly.

Surprise showed in the way that Magnus lifted one dark eyebrow. He didn’t comment on the ferocity of Edwin’s tone. Instead, he snapped his fingers and twisted his hand, calling up a cocktail glass in a flash of blue light as he once more settled himself down into his seat. “I think you’d better explain the story to me instead of us simply playing twenty questions. This whole thing would probably go faster, and it might cost you less in the long run if you’re honest with me. I suggest you start at the beginning and don’t leave anything out.”

With one last deep breath, that was exactly what Edwin did.

“I work as a butler for Maria and Howard Stark,” he began, watching as recognition hit at the sound of those names. “I’ve been in their employ for many years now. Ten months ago, Mrs. Stark returned from a party with the kind of injuries I’ve been unfortunate enough to see on others. Though she didn’t speak of it, I knew what had happened to her.”

Even if he hadn’t, the presence of the warlock child in his arms would’ve made it all clear. The only way a warlock child could be conceived was if one of the parents was a demon. Either a shapeshifter type, who could disguise themselves as someone important to the person, or those that resorted to rape. It was a heartbreaking fact, but one that was well known, and that knowledge was a burden they all had to live with; a legacy they carried from their parents.

Sighing, Edwin looked down at the small boy who was still sleeping. Who had somehow managed to _stay_ asleep through all of this.

“Mr. Stark is well aware of the Shadow world, though his wife remained ignorant. When she bore Anthony six months ago, and he presented no mark, we thought that perhaps she’d gotten lucky.”

“No mark?” Magnus sounded intrigued. He stirred absently at his drink, making a happy humming noise at the flavor when he finally took a sip. Everything about him was the picture of calm, except for his eyes. They were tilted up to peek through long lashes, watching Edwin intently.

Edwin grimaced. He brought his eyes up from the sleeping child to Magnus once more. There were shadows there that showed someone who had seen and done far more in their life than the average mundane. Those eyes were older than his years. “Anthony was born without his mark. But after talking with Catarina…” He paused and blew out a breath, steeling himself for this next part. “Mrs. Stark suffered complications. Bleeding that the doctors couldn’t explain. Ms. Loss believes, as do I, that Master Anthony was born as you see him now.” It’d certainly explain the amount of tearing that Maria Stark had undergone from a child who was actually _underweight_. “Both she and Anthony almost died. Ms. Loss theorizes that Master Anthony’s magic responded to the situation at the time and glamoured him from sheer self-preservation.” Something that Catarina had appeared to be stunned by.

Judging by the look no Magnus’ face, the news had stunned him, too.

“It wasn’t until a few days ago that Master Tony’s glamour started to fall. It was flickers of scales first, a flash in his eyes. Then, he began to summon things to his crib. Bottles that he was too impatient to wait for.”

Magnus looked more disturbed by that than he had by the idea of the child glamouring himself so young. “He shouldn’t be that strong yet.”

One of Edwin’s hands brushed a bit of hair back from Anthony’s face. The young master was so young, so new, and yet he’d wrapped himself firmly around the hearts of the household staff. They loved him, all of them, and there was little they wouldn’t do for him. It was for him that Edwin was willing to sit here and face off against a warlock who was rumored to be far more dangerous than any other that Edwin had ever seen or heard of. “High Warlock, I came to you because Ms. Loss said that you might be able to help us. Anthony is important to his family, and to those that care for him. He is the current media darling. We want to keep him safe, and healthy.”

“And you can’t do that if he’s summoning stuff to him or showing off his scales to the world.”

“Indeed. Ms. Loss said you were the only person she would trust to help us. Whatever payment you require, Mrs. Stark will see it paid.”

Magnus waved his free hand almost dismissively. “It’s not hard to create a glamour for him to help him hide until he’s old enough to do it reliably for himself. It’ll have to be renewed, likely every year or so depending on how fast he grows. That is, of course, assuming the parents want to keep him.”

“They do,” Edwin said immediately.

“Mm.” There was a hint of skepticism to those words. The way that Magnus looked at him made it clear how much he doubted that. Not that Edwin could blame him. Neither parent had come with him today. That couldn’t look good to the High Warlock. Instead, they’d sent Anthony, their little Tony, with the family butler. It didn’t matter that Edwin was so much more than that. All that mattered was that they hadn’t come.

The drink that Magnus had been holding made a soft clinking sound as he set it down. Then he was moving forward, rising up in one smooth move and closing the bit of distance between him and Edwin. When he held his arms out, giving a low “Let me see him” it wasn’t easy for the man to hand over his charge. Since Anthony had come home, he’d been the responsibility of Edwin and his wife, Ana. First, Maria had needed time to heal, and Howard was so hesitant around something so tiny. Sometimes Edwin thought his employer – his friend – hadn’t realized just how small and easily breakable a baby actually was. Now that he was faced with it, it scared him.

And so, Edwin and Ana had been the primary caregivers for the new young master, and they loved him dearly.

Yet, Edwin had come here at Catarina’s insistence, and with the permission of the Starks, to get help for the boy he loved so much. If he wanted that help, he was going to have to allow the High Warlock to touch him.

That didn’t make it any easier for him to carefully pass Anthony over to Magnus’ arms.

To his surprise, Magnus seemed to accept the bundle readily, not faltering even a little as he carefully supported the boy’s head. One of his hands was left free to come up and hover over top of him while Magnus smiled. “Well hello there, darling. Aren’t you a beautiful one?”

Something in the transition had caused the boy to finally start to stir. Since Magnus was holding him, it allowed him to be in the perfect position to get his first glimpse of the boy’s rather unique eyes. There were no whites to his eyes, just varying shades of reds and a hint of amber, cut through in the middle by an elongated vertical pupil that was only slightly wider than Magnus’ own. _Dragon eyes, to match the rest of him._ Smiling, Magnus let his own glamour slip, allowing his cat eyes to show.

“There we are,” he murmured, stroking a finger over Anthony’s soft cheek. “Quite the beautiful eyes you have, sweet one. I can see why you’d want to show them off.” Magnus snapped his fingers and then spread his hand out, a blue light appearing between his palm and the child. It only seemed to fascinate little Anthony, whose eyes opened even more. He gurgled and swung out his hands, showing that, yes, there were claws on his fingers instead of nails. Magnus smiled down at him. “You’ve got quite the mark there, don’t you, little one? Yes, you do. I’ve seen quite a few marks, though rarely ones so involved as this.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Edwin asked, unable to just sit there and watch. He’d risen to his feet as well and was keeping a careful eye on his charge.

Magnus didn’t look away from Anthony to answer. “No. Granted, I’ve generally come across most of these bits individually – a warlock with just claws, or just scales, or just the eyes.” He flashed his own eyes up ever-so-briefly to Edwin before bringing them back down to the child. “But once or twice I’ve seen those with combinations like this. One of my dearest friends possesses both green skin and horns. Another is entirely blue. It says nothing about them or their skill level. It just means they stand out even amongst those that already stand out.”

That didn’t sound like a good thing. For a child who was already geared to stand out amongst the crowd – the child of a genius, bearing a last name well known in the mundane world – this would only set him further apart.

The magic hovering over Anthony was slowly sinking down into him. It made the child start to babble in baby speak while his arms continued to wave.

Magnus chuckled at him. “Yes, yes, that feels good, doesn’t it? I can feel your magic now. Catarina did a good job shielding you until you could get here.”

The light of his hand grew and slowly began to settle down over all of Anthony. Through it, Edwin couldn’t see the boy, not until it started to slowly fade away. As it did, it was easy to see that the red scales were gone, as were the claws. When Edwin got close, he also could see that Anthony’s eyes were back to the warm brown that they were all so used to seeing. All in all, he looked exactly like the baby they’d all grown to love these past six months.

“There we are!” Magnus said cheerfully. He curled his fingers in, and the magic faded away. Then he opened his hand once more and caught one of Anthony’s swinging fists, letting the child get a grip on his finger. “You did very well, yes you did. Hardly even a fuss.”

“Thank you, High Warlock,” Edwin said. There was enough earnestness in his voice to have Magnus quickly looking up at him.

To his surprise, the warlock smiled without any of the previous edges to it, giving him a much softer look. “Call me Magnus,” he said first, showing a faint flash of crinkles near his eyes as he gave a brief grin. “And we’ll see how much you thank me when your employer gets my bill. He’s lucky, honestly, because I’m usually more a ‘payment up front’ kind of guy. But, what can I say?” He looked down at Anthony again and once more he was smiling. “I’ve got a soft spot for little ones.”

Catarina had warned Edwin of that. She’d told him that Magnus had a soft spot for children – especially warlock children.

From his pocket, Edwin pulled out a card and held it out towards Magnus. “Mr. Stark said to bill him here, and to call if there were any troubles. We all greatly appreciate what you’ve done today.”

“I’ve only done one small part in this. I told you, this is going to need renewed, likely yearly if not more, depending on how strong his magic is. And what I sense right now? He’s going to be _strong_.”

“Whatever he needs.” The words were spoken with a strong conviction. To Edwin, there were no truer words out there. While he served Mr. and Mrs. Stark, he had been told from the moment they knew of this pregnancy that the new child was going to be his most important job. The one thing that he was to put above all else. All the skills that Edwin Jarvis had learned, everything he knew how to do that so few were aware he was capable of, all those were to be put towards protecting the Stark heir.

Anthony’s birth had only cemented those orders. Already, this tiny child had his fist around Edwin’s heart, and there was nothing that he wouldn’t do to keep him safe. If that meant bringing him to the High Warlock every year – every month, every week, every _day_ if necessary – he was going to do it.

The two men looked down at the child happily babbling in Magnus’ arms, and Edwin knew it would be worth it. It would all be worth it. Anthony Stark deserved to live as safe and normal a life as possible, no matter how he’d been brought into this world. And Edwin was going to make damn sure he got that chance.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Stepping off of the back of an airplane and back onto American soil – for the first time in _three months_ – was a sensation that Tony knew he would never forget, no matter how long he lived. There was just something about that first step, about the realization that he was _home_ , that took some of the tension out of his body and began to drain it away.

Three months in a terrorist camp, two hours in an army hospital before he finally convinced them there was no way in hell they were taking a look at him, and Tony was now finally, _finally_ , walking down the ramp of a plane and back home.

Pepper Potts was waiting for him, one of the best damn personal assistants he’d ever known, and also one of his closest friends. Just behind her stood Happy – another person Tony would count as more friend than employee. Tony looked at them, and he found himself clutching tighter to Jim’s hand, needing that bit of support. And not just because of the exhaustion that tugged at every part of him.

There were paramedics there as well, ready and waiting with a stretcher. All Tony had to do was give a low “Get rid of them,” and Jim was already moving, waving them away. That left Tony free to focus on the woman who was both grinning and crying. Tony took the warm feeling that gave him and held on tight. “Hm.” He wrinkled his nose at her. “Your eyes are red. Few tears for your long lost boss?”

The way that Pepper smiled told Tony he’d played it just right. Most of their relationship was built on random snark. She was one of the few that could keep up with him without getting _too_ upset. “Tears of joy,” she teased him back. “I hate job hunting.”

“Yeah, vacation’s over,” Tony teased. With a jerk of his head, he had her moving, the two of them heading to the car where Happy was waiting.

Jim waited until Tony and Pepper were both inside before he moved away. It was hard – Tony wanted nothing more than to call him over, to bring him back here. He wanted the people he loved around him. He wanted to wrap himself up in them and let their presence remind him that he was _safe_. After months of being trapped in that hellhole, after losing the only person he’d been able to claim as a friend there, he needed the presence of those he loved. One of them more than any other.

But Tony knew better than to think he could get what he wanted. Right now, he had Pepper beside him and Happy up in the driver’s seat, and that was enough. It had to be enough.

“Where to, sir?” Happy asked, breaking into Tony’s thoughts.

It was Pepper who answered, leaning in and taking control in the way she always tried to. “Take us to the hospital please, Happy.”

“No,” Tony said immediately. He wasn’t going to the hospital. There was no way in hell he was going to the hospital. He’d already fought to keep doctors away from him. They weren’t going to get a chance to see the injuries he hadn’t been able to heal and the ones that were soon going to be healed, and there wasn’t a chance in _hell_ he was giving anyone the opportunity to see the arc reactor sitting in his chest. Just the thought of it was enough to have his breath catching in his throat.

“No?” Pepper turned to him, incredulous. “Tony, you have to go to the hospital!”

Tony huffed out a breath and cut her off quickly. “I don’t have to do anything. I’ve been in captivity for three months. There are two things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger, and the other…”

“That’s enough of that,” Pepper said, flat and dry.

It was enough to make him want to smile. He held it in and shot her an equally dry look. “…is not what you think. I want you to call for a press conference now.”

“A press conference? What on earth for?”

He didn’t answer her. She’d find out soon enough. They all would. Instead, Tony looked up to the front, and he caught Happy’s eye in the mirror. “Hogan, drive. Cheeseburger first.”

That said, Tony sat back in his seat and drew in a breath, ignoring Pepper’s attempts to convince him to go to a hospital as well as her demands to know why he wanted a press conference. None of it mattered to him. What mattered was that he could see her typing away on her phone, already arranging what he wanted even as she nagged him about it. That right there was one of the reasons that he loved this woman. She fought so hard to try and take care of him, and yet at the same time she followed directions and gave him what he needed even if she didn’t always agree with it.

Tony only hoped that she’d continue to do that when she found out what he had planned next.

* * *

The next twelve hours weren’t easy. One would think that coming home fresh from three months of hell would entitle the person to a little bit of rest. But _no_. There was the press conference, which sent everything into an uproar. The idea that Stark Industries would be shutting down their weapons manufacturing was a hell of a shock for just about everyone. Walking away from that left Tony with a twisting, churning feeling in his stomach that he couldn’t quite kick.

Going home was a balm to all the tense, nervous edges of him. Happy drove Tony there, and he was a good friend, an amazing one, not talking to Tony the entire way. He just let him sit in the silence Tony so desperately needed.

It wasn’t until Tony made it through the front door of his home that he felt like he might finally be able to breathe again. He was home. He was _home_.

Tony didn’t waste time simply standing in the entryway. Without conscious choice, his legs were moving, feet carrying him further and further into the house. JARVIS, bless him, didn’t say a word at first. He knew Tony better than anyone out there. He knew him well enough to know that Tony didn’t need words yet. What he needed was to move, to run, to _hide_. And there was only one place in here that Tony wanted to hide in.

While his workshop was safe, there was one room in the house that Tony knew, without a doubt, he’d be the most secure. JARVIS helped protect the workshop to keep Tony’s creations safe, but it was Tony’s bedroom that kept him protected. It was there that JARVIS had the most safeguards in place. Weapons, shields, wards, everything that Tony and JARVIS could employ using both magic and science, all of it was the most concentrated on Tony’s bedroom. His one safe haven where nothing and no one could touch him.

The minute Tony’s bedroom door locked behind him, it was like all the tension bled out of him. He leaned against the door and finally let himself relax. The stress that had been in him for God knew how long was slowly starting to drain away. He was here, in his home, and he was safe. JARVIS was with him – he wouldn’t let anyone in here that Tony didn’t want in. And right that moment, Tony didn’t want anybody.

No, correction. There was one person he wanted. One person he _needed_.

The same person he always needed when his life went to hell.

For as long as Tony could remember, there’d been one constant person in his life. Friend, teacher, mentor, confidante. Even when Tony couldn’t count on anyone else, even when the people he loved vanished around him and took most of his world with them, there had always been one person he could guarantee would be on his side. Someone who would be there to help hold him up, who held on tight when Tony was ready to shake apart at the seams, and who never, ever asked Tony to be anyone but himself.

Magnus Bane.

The High Warlock had been there for Tony when no one else had. There were so many moments that Tony knew he never would’ve made it through without him in his life. Magnus had been the one to teach Tony about who he was and what it meant to be a warlock. He was also the one to teach Tony about the shadow world. About the being called Shadowhunters – the Nephilim, descendants from angels with actual angel blood in their veins, these beings who took out demons and kept the mundanes safe from creatures that would kill them. And about the Downworlders – beings who were considered _less_ by the Shadowhunters, who were either half demon, like warlocks, or were deemed _demonic creatures_ , like werewolves, vampires, or the Seelie.

Magnus also made sure to teach Tony about the Accords between Shadowhunters and Downworlders – and about all the prejudices and wars that had happened between them. He warned Tony about how the Nephilim looked down on them, and how, even though the Accords were in place, it didn’t mean they were _safe_. Prejudice and racism still ran rampant, and there were always groups out there who would like nothing more than to destroy them all for their _impurity._ The stories Magnus told of the wars, of a Nephilim called Valentine and his very Hitler-esque crusade to wipe out ‘the monsters’ had given Tony nightmares.

Thanks to Magnus, Tony grew up knowing about all three worlds, and how to survive in each one of them. He learned how to do business with any type of being he might come across, and how to play the part of a diplomat no matter the attitude of whoever he encountered. And all that knowledge was thanks to Magnus. Magnus and Catarina, two warlocks who had helped out a young boy, taught him, and in the process gave him a family.

As far as Tony knew, the original arrangement between Magnus and Howard had been for Magnus to renew the glamour on Tony each year until Tony was able to do it himself and to see about setting him up with a tutor once he began to show more power. According to Magnus, it’d been _Tony_ who decided otherwise. “You always had questions,” Magnus had told him once, smiling fondly. “Not just the basic questions, either, but big ones. You always wanted to know _more_. How could I not answer them? By the time I should’ve gotten you a teacher, I realized you’d already tricked me into teaching you years ago.”

There was no one in Tony’s life that he loved, trusted, or respected more.

And he was precisely who Tony needed right now.

“J,” Tony called out, pushing off the door and moving towards the middle of his room. “Have you heard anything from Maggie?”

“Word doesn’t appear to have reached him yet, sir. Would you like me to contact him, or would you prefer to take care of that yourself?”

He’d already kind of figured as much. If Magnus had heard anything, he would’ve been here, waiting for Tony the instant he’d gotten home. Or he would’ve been anywhere near Tony today, even if it meant disguising himself to do it. The fact that he _hadn’t_ wasn’t really that much of a surprise. For all that Magnus could blend into the mundane world, he didn’t really. He didn’t watch mundane news all that often, opting instead for either movies or books or the occasional TV show, and most of his contacts were Downworlders.

Plus, Tony knew that Magnus had already been dealing with a shitstorm of his own right before this whole mess. He’d been trying to convince Tony to put up more protections, to go into hiding, as word began to spread about Valentine’s return.

The stories Tony had heard of the man were enough to make him shudder.

Little as either party liked it, they’d agreed that they’d keep a bit of radio silence between them for a while, just in case. If Tony wasn’t going to hide, Magnus didn’t want to accidentally lead anyone to him, and he was worried that would happen. So they’d stepped back for a while, both knowing they could call the other if something cropped up.

Well, this definitely counted as something cropping up. No matter what risk it presented, no matter what might happen, Tony needed to see him. He needed to know that Magnus was okay and safe, and he needed… Goddammit, he needed to be with someone who he didn’t have to pretend around. Someone who wouldn’t care if Tony didn’t put on the front of being _okay_ all the damn time.

There was a vast difference between the Tony that he was for the world and the Anthony that he was free to be when he stepped inside that loft.

“I’ll do it. I don’t think a phone call is gonna cut it in this case,” Tony said.

He wasn’t that surprised when JARVIS wasn’t happy with his plans. “Sir, perhaps you should take some time to sleep, first. Your energy readings are quite low.”

Yeah, he’d figured they would be. Between the wards the Ten Rings had trapped Tony behind, and the shit they shot him up with, he’d barely been able to conjure up a flame, let alone anything big like a portal. If he had, he would’ve been out of there a whole lot sooner. But he’d been slowly recuperating ever since he’d gotten out of there, and while the reactor in his chest seemed to be tingling with its own strange magic the more Tony recovered, it wasn’t preventing him from healing, and it wouldn’t stop him from doing this.

“Some things are too important to wait, J.” Grabbing a watch from the dresser that would keep him more openly connected to JARVIS, Tony slid it on his wrist. “Keep a watch on the home front for me. You know the rules – let me know if anyone’s getting close, give me time to make a quick return.”

“Of course, sir.”

Tony flashed a smile up at one of the nearby cameras. Then, as the windows slowly blacked out in his bedroom, Tony reached down inside himself to his still somewhat depleted magical stores. It wasn’t anywhere as easy as it should’ve been for him to gather up the necessary magic. When he finally did, he could feel the drain it put on him, felt the way it pulled out of him as he clicked his fingers and swirled his hands through the familiar gestures.

When the portal came to life in front of him, Tony gave a tired smile. He’d had his first homecoming already, but now it was time for the one that mattered most.

On legs that were a little too wobbly for comfort, he walked forward.

* * *

Stepping through the portal brought Tony from his darkened, modern-looking bedroom, into the brightly lit living room of someone with a clear taste in both the past and the present. In a gorgeous display of interior design, the loft he walked into seemed to be a mix of old woods, bright fabrics, some modern art, and random paraphernalia from centuries past. It was eclectic and colorful, and exactly what Tony needed. This, more than any other place, was _home_.

However, when Tony had thought about heading home, he hadn’t thought about who might be there.

He definitely hadn’t expected the rather tall, gorgeous Shadowhunter who was straightening up on the couch, one hand bracing on the back and the other one dropping down low, either in preparation of moving or to reach for a weapon, Tony wasn’t sure which. Maybe both. Sharp eyes were watching Tony with clear suspicion – which, to be fair, Tony had just portaled in here without any kind of warning.

“Hey,” Tony said, flashing his best smile. The portal disappeared behind him, and Tony had to fight not to slump as that extra bit of energy drained away. _Damn, maybe I should’ve napped first_. He tried not to let any of that exhaustion show while he straightened himself up. A quick tug on his glamour made sure that the light in his chest was hidden, at least for now.

To his surprise, the Shadowhunter didn’t rush towards him, didn’t start snapping or snarling or demanding answers like he was entitled to getting them. Instead, he stayed where he was sitting and calmly said, “Magnus should be back in a minute. He’s walking a friend down to a cab.”

“Mundane?” Tony asked curiously.

One corner of the guy’s mouth actually twitched upward a little. Huh. It was almost a _smile_. “No, she’s just buzzed enough to not want to portal.”

Ahh, now _that_ made sense. Tony smiled, letting the fondness he felt warm him. Obviously, this guy was someone that Magnus trusted. He wouldn’t have left him alone here if he wasn’t. And if he was someone that Magnus trusted, the least Tony could do was be polite. So, pulling one hand out of his pocket, he took a few steps forward and held it out to the Shadowhunter. “Sorry for just dropping by and probably scaring the hell out of you. I’m Tony.”

“Alec,” the guy said back. He stood up – and yep, Tony was right, he was _tall_ , dammit – taking Tony’s hand and shaking it. He had a firm grip, and clear, steady eyes. One look told Tony that this was someone who was used to being in charge. To commanding. Not because of ego, Tony was willing to bet, but because it was what he knew, what he’d been trained to do, and it was what he was good at.

Tony let his smile warm into something less businesslike and more friendly. “Nice to meet you, Alec.”

Any other questions he might’ve wanted to ask were cut off when Tony felt the shifting of the wards that meant that Magnus was returning. Tony drew his hand back in, already turning his body toward the front door.

The doors opened of their own accord, and Tony drank in the sight of the man strolling through them. “Alexander!” Magnus called out cheerfully. “Find your shoes. I’m in the mood for something to eat, I think. Where would you like to go? I know this…great…”

It took only seconds for Magnus’ eyes to find him. His voice stuttered and failed, fading away into silence, as he froze in place just a few feet in. Wide brown eyes were locked on Tony. It hurt to watch how still Magnus went. To see the color drain out of his face. But it didn’t hurt anywhere near as much as it did to hear the pain in his voice as he said “Anthony?” in a low, hoarse voice. That one word – just the sound of his name – was packed with so much pain. So much _hope_.

Tony felt his own smile shake a little. “Hey, _Babbo_.”

“ _Anthony_.” All at once Magnus seemed to come to life. In a flash, he was darting across the space between them. There wasn’t enough time for Tony to do more than try to brace before he was being swept up in a pair of familiar arms. Arms that had held him through some of the worst moments of his life and kept him sheltered, kept him upright, until he could find a way to do it himself once more.

It was pure instinct on Tony’s part to bring his own arms up while he buried his face in against Magnus’ chest. Tony meant to press his palms flat against Magnus’ back, only he found that his fingers were curling in, gripping tight to his jacket in hard fists.

Magnus didn’t seem the least bit perturbed by it. He kept one arm wrapped around Tony while his other hand was up, curling over Tony’s head and holding him in close, pinning him in place so that he could see, smell, hear, nothing but Magnus. “Oh, my sweet boy.”

So far, Tony had mostly been able to hold back his fear. He’d kept a tight leash on everything he’d felt so as not to give anything away. There was too much going on. Too much that was more important than his stupid _feelings_. Here? Here, he didn’t have that argument. He didn’t have someone to impress, or a press conference to hold, or people who looked at him and expected him to be strong and stand tall. Here, there was Magnus, one of the beings who were responsible for helping make Tony who he was. Someone who he’d never had to lie to, no matter what was going on, and never had to pretend with.

Because of that, Tony didn’t really try and fight it when his eyes began to burn. He didn’t let himself actually cry, especially not with the Shadowhunter standing nearby, but he did allow himself to tighten his grip and press his face in even harder against Magnus.

It got an immediate response. Magnus pressed a kiss against Tony’s hair and let his fingers scratch against his scalp. “You’re all right now, my little lizard. I’ve got you. You’re safe here.” He didn’t tell Tony that everything was okay, didn’t try and shush him. Magnus gave him something better instead. He gave him a promise of safety and reinforced the fact that he wasn’t alone. He was here, with Magnus, and that meant Tony was safe, no matter what came their way.

“ _Babbo_ ,” Tony murmured. It felt good just to say it. For the first time since leaving the desert, Tony felt like he could _breathe_. There was no scent of hot metal or burning flesh. This wasn’t the heat of the desert or the sweltering sensations of the cave. Instead, his nose was filled with familiar scents, the spicy, herbal smell that never left Magnus. No matter what cologne he tried to use, what he put on his clothes, he always ended up smelling of cinnamon and spices, herbs from his workshop, and occasionally incense. Tony always teased him that he’d made too many potions in his lifetime; it’d all seeped into his skin.

There was the sound of soft footsteps, and Magnus shifted Tony around a little, only letting go with one arm. Presumably to reach out to Alec. “I’m sorry, darling.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Alec murmured lowly.

From his place still buried against Magnus’ chest, not quite ready to move, Tony mumbled out “Dinner.”

Magnus turned to buss a kiss over Tony’s hair. “Hmm?”

“Have him come back for dinner,” Tony said, still not looking up.

That got him a soft laugh and another hair-kiss. “You heard the kid. Can we see you for dinner in a few hours?”

“Barring work, I’ll be here.”

Whatever else they murmured to each other was private and not something that Tony needed to listen to. He was perfectly happy being buried here against Magnus and ignoring the rest of the world. Even Magnus nudging at him to move didn’t get Tony to pull away. The best he was able to do was allow himself to be shifted to the side so that he could still cling to the older man while they walked over towards the couch.

Once there, Tony found himself being tugged downward, right into the corner of the couch. “Come on, sweetheart, come here,” Magnus said, pulling Tony in towards his chest in a move that would’ve been extremely comfortable – except for the giant metal case sitting in his chest.

The sound of Tony’s low hiss was enough to make Magnus freeze. He drew Tony back, eyes checking him over and magic already starting to race up towards his hand.

Tony tried not to sigh. Apparently, the time for cuddling was done. He reached out and curled his fingers around Magnus’ lifted hand so that he could draw it back down. “I’m all right, Mags.” At the same time, Tony pushed himself to sit up, though he did leave their legs pressed together. The two ended up sitting with their knees drawn up, legs tangled together, facing one another.

“You’re hurt,” Magnus said. Not asking, just stating it like it were fact.

Not that Tony even thought about denying it. There wouldn’t be any point anyway. Magnus didn’t let him get away with that those kinds of lies. “It’s getting better.”

“What happened, Anthony?”

And that was the million-dollar question here, wasn’t it? Tony lifted a too-shaky hand and let it run through his hair in a nervous gesture he knew was far too telling. But everything was still too fresh in Tony’s brain. Too _real_. It didn’t matter that he was back home now – he’d barely been back a full twenty-four hours. Hardly free for a total forty-eight.

Though Tony knew, logically, that he was back home, mentally? Emotionally? There was a huge part of him that was still trapped back inside that cave. A portion of him that he knew might _always_ be trapped back there. Pushing, fighting, breaking, screaming. Trying in every way possible to just _get free_. That was his only focus. _Had to be_ his sole focus. If it wasn’t, he would break. Tony knew he would. He would break and scream and beg and plead as they shoved his head underwater and demanded information and actions that Tony couldn’t, _shouldn’t_ , give them.

The pressure of the arc reactor sat heavy in his chest. Tony told himself that was why it was so hard to breathe suddenly. That it was just the weight of the arc reactor that made his lungs feel like they couldn’t expand far enough to catch the air he needed.

A familiar hand curled over his. It forced Tony’s twitching fingers to be still, keeping them from seeking out a screwdriver, a hammer, the schematics, anything to keep himself busy because he _couldn’t stop_ , couldn’t _breathe_. He had to keep working, or they would kill him, kill Yinsen, make them _hurt_.

Light, airy music broke through the pulsing throb of Tony’s heartbeat pounding loudly in his ears. Over the sounds of screams and the furious shouts of a language he’d never known before and would now never forget. Tony flexed his fingers and forced himself to feel, to see, to recognize the difference between the tools he knew he should be holding and the warm/cold sensation of skin and fingers and metal rings. The scent of sweat and blood and fear was slowly chased from his nose, replaced with the familiar cinnamon and spice of _home_.

When Tony’s eyes cleared, he found familiar cat eyes staring right into his, full of all the love and warmth that he’d needed for the past three months. For the past _lifetime_. Tony opened his mouth, and all the smooth parts fell away, showing the cracked, broken little boy that still lived inside, the one that no one else got to see. “I missed you.”

Magnus lifted his free hand to curl it gently over Tony’s cheek. “I missed you too. So much, Anthony. I tried looking, but I…I’m sorry I couldn’t come find you.”

“They had it warded.” The words slipped out, ones that he hadn’t been sure he’d planned on saying because he hadn’t wanted to see the shock that hit Magnus’ eyes or the fear that grew there. But now that the words had come out there was no way Tony was going to be able to stop them. They just kept on coming. “They didn’t know about me, not at first. Not until they tried dragging me in the caves and the wards tried to boot me out. They just… they just wanted me for my weapons. They wanted me to build them weapons.”

Tony closed his eyes, and he could see it, see it all over again. The stacks upon stacks of his own weapons sitting in this terrorist camp. Weapons he’d made without a care for where they were going or what they were doing. Not so long as he kept making money from it. And all that time, through all that negligence, they’d been there. Used by the enemy. The thought was still enough to make Tony want to hurl.

The breath in Tony’s chest shook. It pushed on the arc reactor and brought pain. This pain, though, had fast become familiar these past months. It was one that Tony knew. One that _grounded_ him. It helped him actually find his voice and go on.

“It didn’t take them long to figure out what I was or to put on the cuffs so I couldn’t use my powers. They just, they forgot I’ve got a brain, too. Once they knew about my magic they must’ve, I don’t know, assumed it was behind my skills or something, and they forgot about my brain. They wanted me to build them a weapon, and I, I used it against them.”

Tony knew that his story was coming out in broken, disjointed sections, not all of it adding together quite right. There was no doubt that Magnus was slightly lost on some of this. But it felt jagged inside of Tony’s head. Like all the little pieces hadn’t figured out how to fit together there, so how could they come out together?

Only, Magnus didn’t push, didn’t force Tony to stop or make him start over. He just let him talk. He let Tony tell him about breaking apart the Jericho, and how he’d built the armor instead. He let him talk about Yinsen and his _stupid_ sacrifice. And when Tony stammered and stuttered over the talk of things like _water-boarding_ and _interrogation_ , Magnus didn’t push, didn’t fight. He just held Tony’s hand and let him keep on talking until his voice was hoarse.

In bits and pieces all done up out of order, Tony told him everything.

 _Everything_.

Explaining about the arc reactor wasn’t easy. It was also the first moment that Tony truly lost control of the panic and the memories that were choking him. Here, with Magnus, there was nothing to stop Tony from clutching at the other man’s hands as he gasped and wheezed while he tried to talk about the horror of waking up to find a hole in his chest.

That skittering, crawling sensation _inside him_ that were fingers and _tweezers_ plucking away the pieces of metal that were trying to kill him. The scent of blood in the air, and _things_ in his chest, and voices shouting all around him in words that couldn’t break through the haze of _pain_ and _horror_ unlike anything he’d ever known. The feel of hands and straps holding him down, arms curling around him, a warm body pressing right up against his, furious shouts and gentle murmurs… _Don’t move, Mr. Stark, I’m so sorry, but please don’t move. I’m trying to help you. You’re okay… You’re…_

“…safe now, sweetheart. Listen to my voice. You’re not there. I’ve got you, Anthony, _il mio piccolo drago_. I have you, right here with me…”

The voice of Yinsen gave way to another voice, one that Tony had been programmed since childhood to trust, to feel safe with. He grabbed onto that voice as surely as hands had grabbed him, and he gripped tight like they were his only salvation. In a way, they were.

The arms around him tightened, and Tony could feel them now. He knew that they weren’t the hard, harsh straps holding him to the table, but steady and strong arms that had kept him protected from the world so many times before. Tony gripped tightly at the material under his hands, soft and silky, and let yet another difference pull him further from _there_ , and closer to _here_.

Little by little Tony brought his focus back to the world around him. Tricks that he’d learned as a kid, as a teenager, helped him to ground himself. Tony ran through his senses and worked to find the one that was _different_ , the one that didn’t belong.

Touch – silk against his fingers, the cool metal of necklaces, the warm arms that held him.

Smell – cinnamon, maybe a bit of cardamom, and coffee.

Hearing – that was the easiest. Magnus’ voice above him, a steady murmur of Italian. No one there had spoken Italian. And when Tony turned his head just the slightest bit, there was a low _thud-thud_ just the slightest bit faster than others, and a crackling that only came from magic.

Taste – a hint of coffee, stale now and a bit bitter on his tongue. And then, _oh!_ Something small pressed against his lips, and the burn of strong peppermint spread through his mouth.

The only sense left was sight. Tony hadn’t even realized that he’d closed his eyes, or how tightly he’d been squeezing them shut until he forced himself to open them. The very first thing that he saw was green. Dark, forest green, with bits of silver breaking it up here and there.

In the back of Tony’s mind was the absent thought that Magnus must’ve changed his shirt, and that one thought, that tiny little click back to reality was all that Tony needed for the real world to come slamming back into him. _The loft_. He was in the loft – Magnus’ loft – in Brooklyn, and it was Magnus he was curled up against, Magnus who was murmuring the reassuring stream of words and sounds above Tony. Somehow, at some point during his panic attack, the two had ended up plastered together. As Tony turned his head to peek, he felt his cheeks heat a little at the realization of the position they were in.

Magnus had his feet up on the coffee table, and he’d dragged Tony over his lap, letting him sit half on Magnus’ thigh and half beside him, his legs draped over the man’s lap and off the other side. It allowed Tony to turn his upper half in and press against Magnus’ side, under his arm, without putting undue pressure on the arc reactor.

Once Tony got his voice back, the first word he croaked out was a low “Sorry.”

That got him a kiss to his head, and a huffed out breath. “Nonsense. What have I said about that?”

It took just a second for Tony’s still rebooting brain to make the connections. When he did, he sighed, and then forcibly let himself relax down against Magnus. “Never apologize for panic attacks.”

“Exactly. Especially when you have such a very valid reason to be having one. Anthony…” Magnus gave a sigh of his own. His cheek pressed against Tony’s hair, while his magic seemed to swirl up, pressing out towards Tony’s in a touch that was intimate in all the ways that weren’t sexual. “I’m so sorry, darling. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to find you and bring you home, and I’m so sorry you had to go through something like that.”

“I get the feeling you weren’t exactly idle here,” Tony said dryly. Though he’d yet to move, he let himself smile a little against Magnus’ chest.

One thing about being around someone who knew him so well was that Magnus knew when it was safe to push Tony, and when it was better to let him get away with his avoidance techniques. Right now Tony had talked himself out about this far more than he wanted to ever go through again. There was nothing left for him to say. Later, maybe, they’d talk about the arc reactor. Maybe Tony would even show it to him. Then they’d be able to discuss ways to try and help, to get the shrapnel safely out of Tony’s chest – because he knew Magnus wouldn’t be able to accept just leaving it there.

For now, he was more than content to curl himself in against his _babbo_ and listen as Magnus caught him up on everything that had happened in the Shadow world.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man guys, I'm surprised by the amount of kudos and hits so far! And those of you that commented, I'll try and get to them after I've got this posted. Thank you so much! Your kind words help encourage me to not only edit this faster, but to also keep writing on the sequel that I've already got going (and am a few chapters deep in, lol)

It turned out there was quite a lot that had happened. Hearing about it took most of the afternoon, and close towards dinner just to get it all out. Magnus told him everything from the start – about Clary Fray (Fairchild, Morgenstern) finding him, the return of Valentine, and everything that had happened between that moment and the moment of Valentine’s death.

More than that – though that was all a whole hell of a lot to take in, and some fresh grief for the lives that’d been lost – he told Tony about _Alec_.

In that way of theirs made up of such blunt honesty, a strange thing for two known liars, Magnus laid out everything. Good and bad. He spoke of the mistakes made on both sides. Of Alec’s wedding-that-wasn’t, and their fights, their _break up_ , and just how new their reconciliation was. Like, two weeks ago kind of new.

Because of their honesty, Tony didn’t hesitate to look at Magnus and tell him “You’re an idiot.”

Magnus scowled at him. “Why thank you, dear. I’m so _happy_ to have such a kind _, loving_ son like you to point out these _wonderful_ things about me.”

The extra flair on his words had Tony snorting. “Enough italics there, _babbo_?”

“ _Never_.”

Rolling his eyes, Tony gave a click of his fingers and relished in the feel of his magic responding, reaching out from him to spread over the table, adding dishes to the tablecloth that Magnus had already set out. “You wouldn’t know what to do if I didn’t tell it to you like it is. You also know I’m right. You guys both made mistakes – there’s no denying that. But, seriously, Maggie, I’m not good with relationships and people, and even _I_ know you’ve got some serious sucking up to do. Not that you weren’t right to be angry at him. You definitely were. You just…”

“…went overboard?” Magnus finished. He sighed heavily and leaned back against the kitchen counter. “Yes, yes, I’m quite aware of that, thank you. We’re… working on it. Slowly but surely.”

“You’ll get there. It sounds like he really loves you.” Which Tony was going to get a chance to see for himself here shortly. Alec was due to join them for dinner, after all. That would give Tony plenty of time to talk to him and try and feel the guy out. Make sure that he really was the right person for Magnus. Considering Magnus looked pretty damn serious about him, well, it was Tony’s right to vet him, wasn’t it?

“Now wait a second.” The firm sound to Magnus’ voice was enough to draw Tony’s attention upward. He found the older man glaring at him, the warning clear in the upward draw of his eyebrows that was followed by narrowed eyes and the press of his lips. “Alexander doesn’t need to suffer through your interrogations, Anthony. He’s already been put on the spot enough by ridiculously overprotective children.”

Tony’s eyes lit up at that. “Raphael’s met him?”

The look Magnus gave him said clearer than words what his answer was to that. It made Tony chuckle. Of _course_ Raphael had met Alec and talked to him. As the current ‘oldest child’ in the adopted brood that Magnus kept close, he would’ve made damn sure to come and check out anyone that got close to Magnus. Especially if that person was a Shadowhunter. _That was probably a hell of a thing to watch_. Tony was kind of sad he’d missed it. “I should go see Rafa before I go back home.”

The relationship that Tony and Raphael had was one that few people understood. To most, they probably looked as if they hated one another with all the sarcasm and threats that went back and forth between them. But there were no two more willing to protect one another than them. Raphael had once described it as the whole _‘No one gets to mess with you except me, hermanito._ ’

“You should call him,” Magnus said, sending his own magic over the table to call up various plates of food. Where he’d gotten them from, Tony wasn’t sure, and he wasn’t going to ask. Not when it smelled delicious. “And you should be back here on Sunday for a proper welcome home dinner. I’ll invite Raphael and see if maybe Catarina can come.”

“And your Shadowhunter and his family, too.” At the incredulous look that Magnus gave him, Tony shrugged. “What? I listened to your story. Sounds like Alec isn’t the only Lightwood you’ve gotten close to. Why not make it a big gathering? The more, the merrier!”

Magnus laughed as he hopped off the counter. “You’re definitely my child.”

The warmth that put in Tony had him ducking away so it couldn’t be seen. They’d come a long way, the two of them, from the scared little boy who’d looked up to the amazing warlock he trained with. Time and life had brought them closer together. Tony didn’t feel guilty anymore for loving Magnus the way he did, or for acknowledging just who his parents had truly been while growing up, but it didn’t make it any easier for him to accept the casual love that Magnus gave him. For Tony, it was always going to be something a bit hard won. Something that he hadn’t thought he could have, had been embarrassed to get caught feeling, and something he wouldn’t ever take for granted.

The ruffle to his hair as Magnus went past helped to chase Tony’s blush away and replace it with a scowl.

A second later, that scowl twisted into a grin that would’ve had Magnus pausing if he were looking at him. It was one that promised trouble. “All right, all right,” Tony called out, his grin only growing. “I’ve sat here and listened to all the mushy stuff. Now, you know the rules. If I’ve gotta listen to you talk about the cute stuff, I get one good embarrassing fact. Some sort of blackmail material.”

They’d had that rule for years and years now after it was proved that Magnus could find out all the embarrassing stuff he wanted on his own. Tony had protested, saying that if Magnus was going to snoop, the least he could do was dish on whoever _he_ decided to date. Magnus took him up on the offer because, as he pointed out, who did he actually _date_?

This was different, though. This time, Magnus was actually dating someone. Someone _important._ While normally Magnus wouldn’t mind sharing embarrassing things about some of the long-term fuck-buddies he had, he was clearly flustered now by the idea of sharing something personal and embarrassing about his precious Alec. Which, honestly, only made it all the better when his cheeks went just a little pink and he looked away, clearly trying for casual as he said “He calls me _papi_ sometimes. Usually when drunk or exhausted.”

A delighted peal of laughter bubbled up past Tony’s lips. The idea of the big, bad Shadowhunter, a guy who looked like he’d be able to kill you without breaking a sweat – and who Tony hadn’t pegged as Latino in any way – getting drunk and calling Magnus _papi_? “Oh holy shit, that is the single most amazing thing I’ve ever heard.”

“They’re not actually a Latino family,” Magnus said, shrugging, his cheeks still a bit pink. “But they’ve got some in there, and Isabelle wanted to learn about their heritage when they were kids, so they got someone to teach them Spanish when they were training at a different institute for a while. He was young, so I guess some of it stuck around.”

Whatever Tony might’ve said to that was cut off when the two felt the shifting of the wards around the building. Tony looked up in just enough time to actually watch it as Magnus’ just _lit up_. His whole demeanor changed. If Tony hadn’t been able to hear earlier just how much Magnus loved Alec, he would’ve known now. It was right out there on his face for anyone to see.

“Oh, you are _so_ far gone on him,” Tony teased lightly.

Magnus didn’t even deny it. He just straightened himself up and cast a look down at his outfit as if in final judgment. After Tony’s earlier panic attack, well, he’d pretty much ruined Magnus’ silk shirt. Not that the older man seemed to mind. He’d just snapped up a new outfit. Dark pants made of something light and soft, perfect for looking good and also lounging around the house, and he’d paired it with a loose button-down yellow shirt, with swirls of a darker golden color. Over that, he wore an unbuttoned black vest, plus a few silver necklaces. He’d even added a few golden highlights to his hair.

Looking him over, Tony shook his head and snorted. “You look ridiculous.”

“Perfect!” Magnus beamed brightly at him, causing Tony to shake his head again.

In all honesty, Tony was happy to see Magnus pulling on bright colors again. He’d always been the type to go for cheerful outfits or outfits that reflected his mood. They were often different, unique, definitely fashionable – even if it was a fashion no one else had pulled off yet, and he somehow magically made work for him – and comfortable enough in who he was to pull off so many different things. To see him in something this bright and cheerful just because Alec was coming to eat, it said a lot about how Magnus felt about him, and that just made Tony want to like the man even more.

Of course, that didn’t mean that Tony was going to make this meal _easy_ on him. People had to be able to handle a certain level of oddity and stress if they were going to have Magnus in their life. If Alec couldn’t manage a simple meal with _Tony Stark_ , he wasn’t going to be good enough to handle Magnus.

“Oh no, I know that look.” Magnus’ voice broke through Tony’s thoughts. When the younger man looked up, he found Magnus was glaring at him, trying his best to appear stern. One finger came up to point right at Tony. “Don’t even think about it, Anthony Edward. You are going to be on good behavior tonight, do you understand me?”

Tony pulled up his most innocent expression, despite knowing it hadn’t worked on Magnus in quite a few years. “Really, _babbo_? I’m offended you think I’d do anything but. You hear me? _Offended_.”

“You’re going to be something else entirely if you go through with whatever foolish plan you’ve concocted.”

“Words hurt!” Tony fired back, though there was a grin starting to curve his lips.

Magnus didn’t get a chance to reply. The loft door opened, and Alec came in. It didn’t take him long to come find his way to them.

From his spot against the counter, it was easy for Tony to watch as the two men came together. He had a clear view of the way that Alec’s eyes almost immediately found Magnus the instant he was in the room; how he softened and warmed in the blink of an eye, and how Magnus did the same. These two were so blatantly, painfully in love. Even if Tony hadn’t heard the story about them already, he would’ve been able to read so much between them. So many different things that were there for anyone with eyes to see as Alec came up and laid a hand on Magnus’ arm, leaning in to give him a quick kiss.

Watching them was far more interesting than focusing on his own shit. _At least something good came out of the past few months._

That thought held a bit too much bitterness to it. Tony pushed away from the counter and moved towards the table, one hand out for the bottle of wine that was waiting there. If he was going to be battling those kinds of thoughts, best he did it with a glass of wine in hand. Or scotch. Or _anything_ really. _Yeah, because you’ll totally be able to stop at_ one _. Once you start, good luck prying yourself away from the bottle._

That… probably wasn’t an inaccurate thought. The idea of getting rip-roaring drunk was a pleasing one.

By the time he had his glass poured, the couple nearby had finished their greetings, and Tony turned to find the both of them watching him. It was terrifyingly difficult for Tony to reach for the masks that had gotten him through so much in life. To grab hold of them and pull them on again until there was no sign of the fear or pain that he still felt. A smile curved his lips. His press smile. “Shadowhunter. Good to see you again.”

 “Anthony,” Magnus shook his head, eyes sad and lips smiling. “Don’t be rude.”

At his side, Alec’s lips twitched just a little, a hint of a smile peeking through. Then he was all diplomacy and perfect manners as he took a step forward and held his hand out. “Good to see you again too, Anthony.”

“Oh, God, no.” Laughing, Tony moved to shake Alec’s hand, letting his own smile grow wide. “I told you before, it’s just Tony. Please, _please_ don’t pick up his habit of calling me Anthony. It never fails to make me feel like a kid.”

“You _are_ a kid,” Magnus grumbled at him.

He was ignored by both of them. The two shook hands, and Alec’s smile grew a bit more, still small but _there._ “I get what you mean. Just call me Alec.”

“Oh, he does it to you, too?” Tony wrinkled up his nose. Drawing his hand back, he lifted his other to sip off his wine. “Gross. It drives me crazy.”

The blush that stained Alec’s cheeks was far too endearing for a grown man. It was also such a contrast from the way he’d looked when Tony first met him. “Oh, I ah, I don’t mind.”

The wrinkle on Tony’s nose grew more pronounced. “ _Ew_. You’re both as gross as each other. I’m glad there’s wine here. Come on, have a seat. No real point on standing on formalities here. Not with family.”

Catching the tiny little twitch to Alec’s eyes was easy. The way he looked back to Magnus and then over to Tony again. Clearly the word ‘family’ had thrown him off. Which meant that Alec didn’t have any idea who Tony was or what his connection to Magnus was. Tony didn’t mind that too much. He knew how much Magnus kept him a secret, and he knew why. Very few were trusted with the knowledge of Tony’s existence. Or of his importance to Magnus.

Tony knew Alec’s mind had to be running around in circles trying to figure some things out. Considering the trouble their relationship had gone through lately, the last thing Tony wanted was to make Alec worry. Or allow him to think that there was something here that wasn’t really. There were countless ways for him to reassure Alec, both discreet and blunt, but it was the blunt option that Tony chose to go with. By far and above that was usually his favorite.

“Magnus and I have never had sex.”

Watching both Alec and Magnus blanch at that was far more amusing than it should’ve been. The scandalized _“Anthony!”_ that Magnus let out only made it better. Tony ignored him and chose to focus on Alec, who looked a bit like he’d been slapped. “I, w-what? What?”

Tony hummed as he drew his glass up to rest in front of his lips. He watched through his lashes and tried not to grin at the bright blush that was growing on Alec’s cheeks. “Magnus and I have never had sex,” he repeated himself, just a hint of humor in his tone. “Gorgeous as we both are, we’re too much pretty for one bed. Not to mention he’s not my type.”

“That’s, ah, that’s g-great?” Alec asked. He looked to Magnus, who was glaring at Tony, yet appeared to be resigned to the whole thing.

“You are a menace,” Magnus murmured. “And you take entirely too much pleasure in making situations far more awkward than they need to be.”

Tony’s smile grew. It was softer this time, he knew. One that so few people would’ve believed him capable of. “I just didn’t want my presence here causing any trouble, and I didn’t want you worrying that some old ex had just dropped by. Magnus has been a teacher, a friend, and family when no one else was. So I’m not here to encroach on your territory or anything like that.”

“I know Magnus had a life before me,” Alec said.

“Well yeah, duh. Doesn’t mean it’d make it feel any better if it was suddenly thrown in your face without warning,” Tony said, shrugging. “He doesn’t always think of those kinds of things. I think it’s something about the age. When you’ve lived that long, some relationships take on a different meaning. Especially when it’s been a while since you saw them.” Taking one big drink to drain off the wine in his glass, Tony beamed at the two. “So, you guys ready to eat?”

* * *

Dinner was a fun affair. Despite their awkward start – and oh, the look Magnus gave him promised some serious retribution later on for that – they settled in easily with each other. Alec was quiet, yet polite, and though he was clearly toning himself down with Magnus, he wasn’t hiding his affections. There was no doubt in Tony’s mind that this Shadowhunter loved Magnus.

“So, uh, so how do you two know each other?” Alec asked once they began to eat. He looked honestly curious about it. Like he wanted to know the answer, and not for any purpose other than to just know more about Magnus. His eyes were bright with curiosity.

Tony debated how to answer that for only a second. He sat back in his seat, wineglass in hand, and chose to ignore his food for the moment. Now that it was here, Tony found that he wasn’t all that hungry. The cheeseburgers he’d eaten almost half a day ago still seemed to sit like lead in his stomach. It was far more interesting and entertaining to focus on the two men seated across from him. “Oh, I’ve known him since I was a baby. Maggie was my teacher.”

The fork that Alec was holding clattered against his plate as Alec’s hand twitched. For a second Tony froze, wondering what he’d said wrong, what he’d done wrong, or if this was just some typical Shadowhunter reaction to talk of powers – oh, God, he’d realized that Tony was a warlock, right? He’d seen him come through a portal! And he knew what Magnus was! – only to have all his fears wiped away when Alec spluttered out “ _M-Maggie_?”

Relief hit Tony all at once. He sighed, letting the tension in his shoulders bleed away. At the same time, Magnus shot Tony a dry look, grumbling “Thank you, ever so much, darling.”

Tony grinned and blew kisses at him.

Rolling his eyes, Magnus poked at his own food and leaned a bit more into Alec, just enough to brush their arms together. “I was unaware tonight was going to turn into ‘pick on Magnus’ night.”

“More fool you,” Tony fired back. “It’s _always_ ‘pick on Magnus’ night. I consider it payback for all the years you’ve spent picking on _me_.” He didn’t give Magnus any time to react to that. Tony quickly turned his focus on Alec and began to gleefully try and embarrass his father figure. “I have so many different stories I could tell you. I mean, have you seen what he’s like when he’s properly drunk? I remember this one time…”

“I think that’s quite enough of that!” Magnus cut in quickly. There was the barest hint of a blush that he was trying to hide underneath sparkling cat eyes. “Do remember, I have just as many stories about you as you do about me. More, even.”

Tony waved a hand negligently through the air. “All my stories are already on the internet. It’s not like ninety percent of the world hasn’t already seen them.”

“I’m sure there’s not a soul in the world who has video of why I grounded you when you were fifteen.”

There was only one time that Magnus could be talking about. Tony’s mouth fell open, and his eyes went wide. “You wouldn’t!” Except for that, he knew Magnus very much _would_. “You tell him that, and I’ll have JARVIS pull up the old photo albums. And trust me, _babbo_ , you might think you got rid of all photographic evidence of certain things, but I promise you, J and I are pretty sneaky. There’s not much he can’t find if he puts his mind to it.”

The two had gotten so caught up in their argument they’d almost forgotten the other person with them. Alec was watching the back and forth between the two with a sense of confusion that was slowly giving way to realization with each word they exchanged. Any worries he might’ve had about them were gone as he smiled at them. “You two are worse than Jace and Izzy.”

“You say that now, but just you wait,” Tony said teasingly. He reached out for the wine bottle to top off his now empty glass. The warmth from the wine was helping to chase away the sick feeling that he hadn’t quite been able to get rid of. “I mean, seeing as how you’re the one dating him, you realize that makes you like, my stepdad or something, right?” Devilish humor lit Tony’s expression. His eyes crinkled at the corners when he snuck a look up at Alec. “Just wait a few years till I’ve got some good stories on you, _patrigno._ ”

The stunned look on Alec’s face set Tony and Magnus both laughing. As their laughter echoed around the room, and Alec slowly started to smile back at them, the warmth in Tony grew. He drew his feet up into his chair and let his legs tip to the side, body relaxing into his seat. This was what he needed. This, more than anything else, was exactly what Tony had needed to finally feel like he was _home_.

 


	4. Chapter 4

That feeling of _family_ was something that Tony tried to carry with him when he went back home. It wasn’t easy for him to leave, or for Magnus to let him go. The past three months had left their scars on both men. Not just for what they’d gone through themselves, but for what the other one had gone through without them around to help. The only thing that gave them the ability to let one another go was the promise of communication, not just from Magnus and Tony, but from JARVIS as well. Plus, the promise of a big family dinner on Sunday.

Of course, Tony hadn’t exactly predicted how the next week would go.

The three months Tony had spent in Afghanistan had changed who he was. It’d changed something deep down in the core of him, the very foundations that made up who Tony was as a person.

His first week back home?

It _shaped_ him.

Iron Man was forged in the desert, born from the blood and ashes of his old life, and tempered by the steady resolve that grew each moment Tony was home. Every moment he was here, drawing air into lungs that would’ve known no breath without the sacrifice of one vital life. The strength that Yinsen had given him, the lessons he’d taught Tony, had stuck with the engineer as he sought to take his old life and shape it into something new. Something _better_.

He almost lost it all by failing to see the snake in the grass. By blindly trusting someone who he’d thought he’d always be able to believe in, and who it turned out had never really cared at all.

Yet again, Tony’s world was overrun with blood and fire and death, and he was forced to crawl his way from the ashes of his old life wrapped in a suit of metal that did nothing to protect the broken heart inside.

* * *

The press conference was a necessity. SHIELD wanted to push it all under the rug. They wanted to hide Iron Man, hide Tony, and give some stupid speech about a _bodyguard_.

Tony went along with it, of course he did, right up until the moment that he _didn’t_.

“I am Iron Man.”

Those words were still echoing in Tony’s ears as he slipped down a nearby empty hallway in the hopes of escaping reporters and any agents that might be out there. Especially Agent Coulson. The very last thing Tony wanted was to deal with him right then. If he did, he wasn’t quite sure he wouldn’t end up punching him right in his face.

Only when he was sure he was alone did Tony let himself stop. There was no one around to see as Tony let out a shaky breath as he pressed one of his hands flat against the wall. For just that one moment, just that brief second in time where there was no one around to see him, he let his fears well up again. He stopped trying to constantly hide and fight and pretend. For the span of a heartbeat, he let go of the iron control he kept wrapped around himself and indulged his fears by closing his eyes and just… _breathing_.

“Tony?”

The sound of his name was enough to snap that control back into place. Even as Tony looked up, his mask was already settling in place, a hint of a smirk curving his lips and his eyes settling into their familiar amused crinkle. “Hey, Pep. How do you think that went out there, huh?” Tony pushed his palm against the wall and used it to straighten himself back up until he was once more standing tall – or, as tall as he could manage, really. “I think it went great, personally. I hope the cameras managed to catch my good side. Not that there’s really a way to get a _bad_ side of me.”

“Tony,” Pepper said his name this time like a sigh. Part worry, part that fond annoyance that seemed unique to those few select people that stuck around in Tony’s life. Her smile was gentle as she moved a little closer to him. Though she didn’t reach out and touch him, her close proximity was enough for the moment, and Tony was grateful that she’d noticed the distance he was putting between himself and everyone. Pepper always saw things like that.

Tony put on his most charming smile. “Yes, my dear?”

He got an eye-roll from her at that, which only made him smile even more. The fondness in her eyes grew. “Happy has the car waiting. If we hurry, you should be able to bypass the mass of press waiting for you at the other exits. I’ve also cleared your schedule for the next week, so there’s no meetings, nothing that should need your immediate attention until the board meeting next Thursday to discuss… everything.”

The idea of discussing _everything_ was enough to have Tony wanting to shudder. Just barely did he manage to suppress that urge. Instead, he latched on to the most crucial part of what Pepper had just said. “You mean I have a whole week off?”

Pepper’s smile brightened. “Ten days, actually.”

“I could kiss you,” Tony declared immediately. Ten days – Pepper had fixed his schedule so that he had _ten days_ to take his time and recover. _Heal_.

His words didn’t even fluster Pepper in the least. “I’ll pass, thanks.” Pulling out her phone, she tapped a few times, clearly checking something. Then she was looking back up at him. “That was Happy – he says you better hurry before his hiding spot is found. He’s managed to avoid Agent Coulson so far, but there’s no telling how long that’ll last.”

Acting on impulse, Tony reached out and caught Pepper’s hands in his, giving them a brief, tight squeeze as he leaned in and kiss her cheek. “You are a goddess amongst mortals, Pep.”

“I’m not doing it for just you. Maybe I want ten days off, too,” Pepper teased him, smiling brightly at him. “Now, go, so I can start enjoying them!”

Tony lifted her hands to kiss the backs of them just so he could enjoy the way it made her laugh. But after that, he didn’t waste another minute, hurrying down the hall and straight towards his freedom.

* * *

The last time Tony had rushed towards home like this had been a week ago, and his only thought then had been getting home and then getting the hell out of there. This time wasn’t any different. Tony desperately wanted to get the hell out of here – and by here, he meant the whole state of California. With the family dinner that was supposed to happen tomorrow night, all Tony wanted was to get to Magnus’ and finally _breathe_ a little.

Continuing to prove what an amazing employee and friend he was, Happy silently took Tony home, and he made sure the place was secure before he let Tony out, just like last time.

The difference between that time and this one was that Tony wasn’t alone when he stepped inside.

He could feel someone in his wards from the instant he came inside. Tony played it off, letting himself be as casual as possible as he called out a greeting to JARVIS. “Hey, JARVIS.”

“Welcome home, Sir,” JARVIS said warmly. He knew just as well as Tony did that there was someone inside. Tony’s wards and JARVIS’s security measures were tied together. They’d long ago figured out how to take a few magical objects and connect them to JARVIS’s core. It gave JARVIS more _life_ , more _control_ , than anyone would ever suspect. It allowed JARVIS to help keep things safe if Tony wasn’t in the position to do it, or to help hide just how protected their home was if someone stopped by who was more annoyance than threat, kind of like right now.

One look was all Tony needed to understand why it was that JARVIS had let this intruder in. Even though Tony could only see the back of the guy, who was standing in the shadows by the window, it was enough for him to recognize who it was.

“I am Iron Man,” Nick Fury said, staring out the windows and over the water. Though his voice was low and even, it easily carried across the room. “You think you’re the only superhero in the world?” Slowly, the man turned towards him, keeping to the shadows like the dramatic bastard he was. “Mr. Stark, you’ve become part of a bigger universe. You just don’t know it yet.”

Tony stopped at the edge of the living room. Arching one eyebrow, he kept playing his part, letting the persona of _Tony Stark_ take hold of him. None of his aches, pains, or fears showed on the outside. Nor did his knowledge of just who it was he faced. While Tony might know _exactly_ who Nick Fury was, he wasn’t going to tell _him_ that. “Who the hell are you?”

“Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD,” Nick said, and he looked like he was set on being equally – if not more – annoying than Coulson had been. Coulson had been the quiet kind of annoying, never raising his voice, never pushing, but never stopping, either. Nick seemed like the type to push, shout, and maybe even stab if he thought it would get his point across. The little smirk he wore now wasn’t helping change that opinion. “I’m here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative.”

Off to the left, a small panel lit up with a faint light. A green one. Seeing it had Tony relaxing. That was JARVIS discreetly letting him know that there was no one else inside or around the house. Nick really had come alone. “The Avengers Initiative, huh?” Snorting, Tony strolled casually over to the small bar on the side of the room. “Sounds boring. Also sounds like something you could’ve called my PA about to set up a meeting about. Not, you know, break into my house and stand around lurking in the dark.”

A series of taps against the counter had JARVIS turning the lights up for him. Out of the corner of his eye, Tony was amused to see the way that Nick looked down at the bar like he expected to see some sort of panel or screen there. He wouldn’t find anything, of course, not that he’d believe that. JARVIS just knew Tony well enough to recognize what that series of taps had meant. They had perfected the system between them early on after Tony had realized people got nervous if they saw how capable JARVIS really was. It put them more at ease to think that Tony was in control of everything. Of JARVIS.

If only they knew just how backward that really was.

Tony didn’t bother pouring a drink for his guest. Manners be damned, he wasn’t going to entertain someone who’d broken into his home, and who he very much didn’t want to see.

When he turned back towards Nick again, it was to find that the man was making his way closer. He didn’t look all that impressed with Tony’s… whatever. Everything? That had Tony wanting to snort. Yeah, he could see this guy being unimpressed with Tony’s _everything_.

“You took a huge risk today, Mr. Stark,” Nick told him flatly. “Exposing yourself like that on live TV.”

Tony grinned broadly. “Not the first time I’ve been filmed exposing myself. If you’re that shocked by it, you really haven’t done your research on me. Or ever gone on the internet.” Just to be an ass, he tilted his head and squinted his eyes, giving Nick a once-over. “Or have you been stuck out on your pirate ship, maybe? Do pirate ships get wifi? I should look into that. JARVIS, make a note – look into pirate wifi.”

“Do you think this is a joke?”

“I think _you’re_ a joke,” Tony fired back. One quick drink drained his glass dry. The sound it made as it was set down was loud and just a bit satisfying. “But I also think I’m not in the mood for your brand of humor tonight, Pirate Pete. Now, if you don’t mind…” Tony cut off then for just a second. Something was tugging at his wards. When he realized what it was, he smirked and straightened up, playing off his pause as just a dramatic flair. “I’ve got a few friends waiting for me upstairs. So, you know, as fun as this has been, I think it’s time for you to scoot.”

“You can’t avoid this, Mr. Stark,” Nick warned him.

Tony’s grin grew even brighter. “Oh, I don’t know, I’m pretty good at avoiding stuff I don’t like. Just ask Pep.” Lifting one hand, Tony waved it in the air while making his way around the bar, making sure to come out on the side furthest from Nick. “JARVIS, show the Director out, would you? I’ve got much more important things waiting for me right now.”

There was only a split second of sound and instinct that warned Tony that Nick was moving. Exhaustion kept him from reacting as quickly as he might’ve otherwise. But between one blink and the next, Nick had gone from standing by the bar to standing at Tony’s side, his fingers curled tightly around Tony’s bicep.

Just that touch was enough to freeze Tony in place. He didn’t hear if Nick said anything; couldn’t listen beyond the sound of his heart pounding in his ears. Turning his head, he glared at Nick without any sign of his earlier friendliness, forced or not. “Let go of me.”

“You’re making a mistake,” Nick said. He didn’t sound angry. He sounded more like he was just stating facts.

“I’m pretty sure he said to _let go of him_.”

The sound of that voice eased just a bit of the tension that had snapped Tony’s every muscle taut. It allowed him to take just a single step away when Nick let go of him instead of simply running. Keeping Nick in sight, Tony turned to look up at the man who was coming down the stairs, and he found himself smiling.

Raphael came down the staircase like some sort of avenging angel – or devil, really, would be the more apt term. He was quite the sight in his exquisitely tailored suit, dark hair flat and perfect, and dark eyes as hard as stones. In the low light of the downstairs, his pale skin was only more pronounced. To most, he probably cut one hell of a terrifying picture. To Tony, he looked fucking amazing, and exactly what Tony needed at that moment.

There was no hesitation in Tony to move forward and head towards him. “Rafiki!” With Raphael there, Tony didn’t hesitate to put his back to Nick. He just rushed away from the man and right to one of his closest friends.

Though Raphael wasn’t the hugging type, especially in front of others, he let Tony embrace him and even gave his back a pat. Far more than he’d usually let Tony get away with where people might see. Though, that probably had something to do with his protective side rearing its head. The hand he had on Tony’s back stayed in place, keeping Tony from moving while Raphael glared over his shoulder at Nick. “I believe you were leaving.”

Even if Nick didn’t know exactly who Raphael was – and Tony had made damn sure to try and keep Raphael away from the attention of anyone like SHIELD – he was a smart enough man to recognize a real threat when he was face to face with it. There was absolutely no doubt that Raphael was a clear threat. “We’ll speak again soon, Mr. Stark.”

“Call Pepper, set something up,” Tony called back easily. Then, deliberately ignoring the retreating footsteps, Tony snuggled right back in, closing his eyes and waiting.

Even if he hadn’t felt Nick step outside his wards – or how JARVIS helped to snap the wards back into place – he still would’ve known that Nick was gone by the way that Raphael relaxed.

“Why is it every time I come find you, you’re in the middle of something stupid?”

Typically, that would’ve been the moment to snark back at Raphael. That was kind of how their whole relationship worked. They snarked and bit at one another and then turned around and fiercely defended the other if needed. But, right at that moment, there were just no words. The mask that Tony had pulled on was fracturing now that he was in the presence of someone he trusted so much. When it was just Nick, it’d been almost easy to drag that mask up, to hide from everything that had happened. Here, with Raphael? Tony let out a low sigh and just… leaned in until his forehead was pressing against Raphael’s shoulder.

 _If the world could see me now_ , Tony thought to himself. _They’d never believe it._ The great Tony Stark, known for being a playboy, a heartless bastard with no thought except for his own pleasure, and here he was leaning against someone just seconds away from breaking apart at the seams. The world would be stunned by the sight.

Not that it mattered what the world thought. Not now, not here. Not with family.

Raphael’s hand pressed a little more firmly against Tony’s back. There were no prying eyes to see as Raphael turned his head in just a little towards Tony’s. “Antonio?”

“This week sucked,” Tony said, not bothering to move his head. “How’s yours been?”

He felt the soft puff of breath against his ear, and the brief squeeze of Raphael’s hand, both signs of his humor. “I’ve had worse.”

“So I’ve been hearing.”

Tony didn’t say anything more. Even though it would’ve been easy, he didn’t. He just stood where he was and tried to breathe in Raphael’s scent in the hopes that it might chase away the ones that had burned their way into Tony’s nose. He pressed his forehead in farther, pushing up just enough that it was his eyes that were pressed to Raphael’s shoulder. The force of his push was enough to make lights dance behind his eyelids. Yet still, Tony didn’t move away. Not even when he felt Magnus come downstairs to join them. He’d already known the warlock was there; he was the only way Raphael could’ve been portaled in upstairs.

The press of Magnus’ hand against his neck, pushing up to card through his hair, sent a shudder running down Tony’s body. He hated how fucking weak he felt in that moment. Hated how weak he’d been for the past three months. Yet, hating it didn’t stop him from gripping tightly to Raphael’s jacket, or from whispering “It was Obie” in a voice so soft he wasn’t sure they’d hear him.

Then Raphael went tense, and Magnus’ hand froze in Tony’s hair, and he knew they’d heard him.

“He hired the Ten Rings to kidnap me.” The words were so hard to say – so _fucking hard_. Tony had to fight to swallow down the lump in his throat just so he could keep going. “He wanted them to kill me, but they wanted me to make weapons instead.” They’d wanted him to _be_ a weapon. They’d wanted his brains and his magic. “He was selling weapons to anyone who wanted to buy them and making himself a huge profit. He, he made his own suit, and he tried to kill me. I… I killed him.” God, that hurt to say! If Magnus had been Tony’s father-figure, Obie had been a friend and uncle all rolled into one. A godfather, in a way. Someone that Tony had loved – that he’d _trusted_.

The hold that Raphael had on him tightened even more. At the same time, Magnus gave a low murmur, a sound that was less a word and more just simple comfort, and he leaned in to rest his forehead against Tony’s hair. It briefly connected the three of them together in a hold that gave Tony the strength he needed to draw in another breath.

“Right,” Tony said eventually. He drew in a deep breath and forced himself to hold it for a second before he blew it back out. The two around him knew him well enough to know what came next. They let go just as Tony straightened himself up and drew his personal armor back around himself. “It’s done, it’s over, and I’m sure you guys saw most of it on the news anyway. Besides, we’ve got more important things tonight. Family dinner night! Is everyone gonna make it?”

There was a brief moment where Tony wasn’t sure that they were going to let him get away with such a blatant subject change.

Then Raphael gave a small shake of his head, and Magnus sighed, and Tony knew they were going to allow it. At least for now.

“Everyone’s coming,” Magnus reassured him. “Alexander just called to let me know they were done with their mission and they’ll be by soon. Clary and Sheldon are already there.”

A long-suffering look twisted Raphael’s features. “You know his name is Simon.”

The twinkle in Magnus’ eyes said that, yes, he did. It also made clear that he wasn’t going to be using it any time soon. Tony smothered down a laugh; when Raphael turned his glare to him, Tony adopted his most innocent look – not the best, and definitely not believable. It only served to make Raphael huff at him. Tony considered that a win.

Just being with his small family was infinitely better than anything else Tony had been doing. With the knowledge that he had _ten whole days_ to go hang out with them, he straightened himself up and grinned, pushing as much of his grief away as he could. “Well, we better get going then, huh? JARVIS, you’re in charge while Daddy’s gone. Don’t let your siblings blow up the house, keep any more super spies from getting in, all that usual stuff.”

“Of course, Sir,” JARVIS said.

Not that Tony planned on just leaving JARVIS to watch over here. He was as much a part of their family as anyone else, and Tony never went anywhere without him. Especially not after… after recent events. Neither one was all that willing to be out of contact for too long. Which was why Tony darted over to grab a tablet off the coffee table to take with them. He’d be able to set that up just about anywhere and keep JARVIS with him, while also allowing him to talk to everyone else if he wanted to. That, plus the watch that Tony wore, and the tracking equipment they’d put in the arc reactor, all combined to guarantee that JARVIS would either be with Tony or easily be able to find him.

Tablet in one hand, and a wide grin on his face, Tony faced his family once more. “Let’s do this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now keep in mind, please, that I know a few might not seem IC. One, this is my first time writing for Shadowhunters, so I'm really trying! And two, I am a firm believer in these hardasses that we see being softer - allowing themselves to be - when they're with family. :)
> 
> You guys are great, your reviews are amazing. I'm so happy you're all liking this!! THANK YOU


	5. Chapter 5

Making the choice to go ahead and meet this new group of people that Magnus had found himself involved with was a bit of a big deal. Tony knew that Magnus recognized that. In all honestly, Magnus was probably far more worried than Tony was. He tended to be a bit overprotective of the Downworlders he adopted into his family. And this? This was more than just a group of other Downworlders. This was a group made up of Shadowhunters, Downworlders, and a couple people who had used to be mundane but were now a part of the Shadow World. More than that, however, he was protective of _Tony_. And that included Tony’s true identity.

There was a good chance that the two who’d grown up in the mundane world would recognize who Tony was. So far, Tony and Magnus had been able to keep Tony’s identity mostly secret. A few knew the truth, but they were ones they trusted. Ones that they could be sure wouldn’t spill his secrets everywhere. This was different.

After Tony’s recent betrayals, it was also a lot more _difficult_.

But these were people who were important to Magnus. People who were a serious part of his life. For Magnus, for his happiness and for the ability to see him without having to worry, Tony needed to meet these people. They needed to know who he was. No matter how terrifying it was.

Tony’s response to terror had always been to cover it up underneath a cocky, arrogant mask, or a whole lot of attitude. Sometimes both. Tonight wasn’t any different. Before they left, he took a quick moment to grab his packed bag, and to change into a suit that was just as much armor as Iron Man was. A dark black suit, perfectly tailored as always, with a black tank top to help hide the light of the arc reactor, and a dark blue button up shirt over that. He took a second to spike up his hair, and to give a quick look in the mirror to make sure his goatee was trimmed just so, and then he was grabbing a pair of sunglasses and sliding them on his face as he made his way back downstairs.

Neither of his family members commented on the reasons behind his change of clothes, though Tony knew they knew. The only thing said about it was from Magnus, who looked over the two men side by side and gave a shake of his head. “You two are far too similar sometimes.”

Tony and Raphael exchanged a brief look. Then they glanced down at their bodies, at the signs of what Tony considered their _excellent_ taste in clothing, and then back up at one another. Those who knew how to look for it would’ve seen the faint curve to Raphael’s lips, the humor that was hidden in the depths of his eyes.

Tony’s grin was out there for anyone to see. “We look awesome,” Tony said.

Though Magnus rolled his eyes, his smile showed through even as he turned away from them to make a portal.

Moments later the trio was making their way out of Tony’s home and into Magnus’. Just stepping through the portal and into the loft was enough to ease some of the pain and tension in Tony.

Two people were waiting for them, just as Magnus had said. A red-haired girl, and a dark-haired boy at her side. Shadowhunter and vampire, Tony knew. They were rising up from the couch together, and Tony thought it was kind of funny to watch the shock that spread over their features. Clearly, Magnus hadn’t bothered explaining who was coming, and Tony had been right in thinking that they’d recognize him. “Holy crap,” the vampire breathed out, eyes wide on Tony’s face. “You’re _Tony Stark_.”

“That I am, sweetheart,” Tony said, grinning

Beside him, there was a low growl from Raphael that was followed by an elbow not-so-nicely jabbing into Tony’s side. “No,” was all Raphael said.

Really, it was all he _needed_ to say. Surprise flashed through Tony, followed by understanding, and then his whole being lit up with _delight_. “Rafi, you little minx…”

“No,” Raphael repeated firmly. If looks could kill, Tony would’ve been on the floor.

Not that it really stopped him. He was beaming at Raphael. “Does…” He was cut off by a low growl that answered him clearer than anything. “Right, right.” Shocking their audience even more, Tony spun towards Raphael and stole a quick hug. Then he was moving again before Raphael could try and punch him or snarl at him or something else to help reassert his tough-guy exterior. Tony extended his hand and made his way towards the Shadowhunter and the vampire. “As you guys guessed, I’m Tony Stark. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

The girl shook his hand first, flustered when he smiled at her, but she met his gaze without hesitation. There was a strength to her that Tony could respect, and an attitude he was familiar with. “Clary,” she introduced herself.

When Tony reached for the vampire, the guy shook his hand, too, but he stared at Tony with awe as he did it. “I’m Simon,” he blurted out. “And wow, I can’t believe I’m meeting you. How’re you… do you know Magnus or something? What am I saying, of course you know Magnus, you’re here after all. He seems like the type of guy to know just about everyone…”

The poor guy’s rambling was cut off by Tony laughing. “He does, doesn’t he?” Tony gave Simon’s hand a squeeze and then drew back. “I’m pretty sure he’s the only person I know whose Rolodex is bigger than mine.”

“Yeah, well, you’ve always been on the small side, haven’t you?” Raphael chimed in, voice dry and mocking.

Tony spun towards him and pointed a finger his way, mock stern. “You stay out of this, Rafiki.” The finger dropped, and Tony’s grin turned sharper and just a bit dirty. Then he winked. “I’m big enough where it counts.”

“Oh God,” Clary groaned out, at the same time that Simon made a high-pitched squeaking sound.

Behind Tony, Magnus made a move as if to step forward, only to be stopped by a quick look from Raphael when Tony glanced at the others. A subtle shake of the head kept Magnus from saying whatever he’d been about to.

Tony completely missed the silent conversation behind him. He was busy grinning at the two in front of him as he waited for them to regain their composure. Before they could, the feel of someone approaching through the wards caught Tony’s attention and Magnus’ as well. It looked like it was time for their other guests to arrive.

Because Magnus was one of the most dramatic people that Tony knew – which was saying a lot, since Tony knew _himself_ and Rhodey was continually telling him just how dramatic _he_ was – it wasn’t really a surprise when the warlock snapped his fingers and opened the doors just as the others reached them. It was amusing as hell to watch as a muscular, blond-haired Shadowhunter froze, one hand already lifted to knock. Behind him, Alec and a dark-haired beauty who just _had_ to be the sister that Magnus had spoken of were grinning.

Alec just brushed around the other guy’s shoulder and walked right in, making for Magnus in a way that looked so familiar as to be almost instinctive. “Hey,” Alec greeted him, one hand going to Magnus’ waist when he bent down the short distance to kiss him in greeting.

Oh, weren’t they _cute_? Tony’s grin softened just a bit as he watched his father-figure practically melt in the face of his partner.

The other two were coming in now as well, the guy shaking his head and the girl beaming, both of them making their way towards Clary and Simon.

Magnus gave an almost absent snap and wave to shut his doors once more. The rest of his focus – pretty much _all_ his focus – was on curling his free hand around the back of Alec’s neck and deepening their _hello_ kiss into something that was just shy of indecent. Tony ignored them easily, far too used to the ease that Magnus felt concerning anything sexual.

He stayed back for a moment, happily leaning in to brush his arm against Raphael’s while all the other people greeted one another. That wasn’t to say that they didn’t notice him, they were too well trained for that. Though some were faster than others.

Now the girl, her reaction had to be the best one yet. She turned towards Raphael with a friendly smile already on her lips, and a warm welcome on her face – albeit a bit of hesitance that Tony had to admit he was curious about, especially since there was an answering tension in Raphael’s body language. But all of her practically _froze_ when her eyes drifted over to Tony. “By the angel,” she breathed out, a slow smile building into a broad grin. “When Magnus said he was inviting a guest tonight, I didn’t expect it to be Tony Stark.”

With his press smile already in place, Tony pushed away from Raphael’s side and moved forward, one hand already extended towards her. “And I wasn’t expecting to be greeted by such beauty. Though I really should have anticipated it.” Tony caught her hand in his and, to her obvious delight, drew it up so that he could press his lips against her knuckles. Glancing up, eyes warm over the top of his sunglasses, Tony winked at her. “You _must_ be Isabelle. You Lightwoods have rather _extraordinary_ genes.”

“Heel, Antonio,” Raphael murmured, his eye roll strong enough that Tony could _hear_ it.

Isabelle’s smile was bright and a bit devilish, with a flirtatious edge that Tony could appreciate. “Thank you. I have to say, yours are rather impressive as well.”

The appreciative way she looked him over had Tony’s smile growing. He straightened back up, keeping hold of her hand just long enough to skirt the edges of propriety. He always did love a girl who wasn’t afraid to flirt right back with him just as boldly as he did.

Any further flirting was cut off by the blond tough guy. He was at Clary’s side now, but he was edging closer to Isabelle, suspicion clear on his face. “Who’re you exactly?”

It wasn’t too much of a surprise for a Shadowhunter not to know who he was. Honestly, Tony was more surprised that Isabelle _had_. Shadowhunters weren’t really all that exposed to the mundane world. They grew up a bit sheltered for that kind of stuff. And from other things, as well. Tony had encountered a few Shadowhunters over the years, and while he knew these two weren’t the same as them, that they were clearly different if they didn’t seem to mind being at the home of the warlock their male brother was dating, it was more than Tony could resist to try and tweak their noses a little.

That was why his smile went just a bit sharp around the edges when he turned to the blond and stuffed his hands down into his pockets, showing a calm he didn’t actually feel. “I’m Tony, and I use he/him pronouns,” Tony said brightly. “I’m also a pan-demiromantic pansexual, which for those who’re unenlightened, means I’ll date anyone but I don’t like to date until there’s a connection, and I’m more than down for sex with any and all genders or non-genders out there. It’s nice to meet you.”

Tony’s smile brightened at the looks that got him and the slightly choked sound that blondie made. God, he did love making people uncomfortable! Especially when they were a part of a group that was pretty well known for its bigotry, racism, occasional sexism, homophobia, and probably a whole slew of other -isms that they liked to hide underneath their precious _rules_ , all while claiming they were _good_ and _pure_ and _helpful._

“Please ignore him,” Magnus said, having finally broken away from Alec. He moved to stand behind Tony and curled a hand over his shoulder, giving a warning squeeze. “I promise, he usually has much better manners.”

“Though he’s never been truly housebroken,” Raphael chimed in.

Unashamed, Tony smirked and gave a low “ _Meow._ ”

It made Tony want to smile a little more honestly when he saw Magnus grin at that, or how both Raphael and Alec were trying not to smile. Raphael just looked like his usual pissed off self, a sort of constant state of being for him when around people, while Alec looked like he was trying to stay serious. Like maybe he thought he had to be the responsible one. Considering how Isabelle was grinning and the flirtatious way she watched Tony, plus the scowl on blondie’s face, and knowing what Tony knew of Magnus… yeah, Alec probably had to be the grownup far more than anyone else here.

“Why don’t we all sit down and eat?” Magnus suggested, breaking the bit of tension that was sitting in the air. His eyes were amused, and his lips twitched a little. “You can all interrogate each other just as easily over food as standing here.”

That was enough to get everyone over to the tables. A snap and a wave from Magnus had the table set perfectly, with a gold tablecloth and matching napkins as well as plates with metal covers, and beautiful goblets for each seat. Magnus nudged Alec down into the chair at the head of the table, taking the one to his left, and Tony shrugged before sliding down to the seat at Alec’s right. Raphael sat beside him, with Simon at his side. Clary sat beside Magnus, Jace next to her, and Isabelle at the other end.

Everyone’s goblets were gold, to match everything else, and Tony suspected also so that there was no way to see what was inside them. Considering that Raphael and Simon picked theirs up to drink without hesitation, it was a good bet Magnus had done it for them, and to be discreet. Bold though he may be, he didn’t do things that would make those he loved uncomfortable.

Another snap and wave dismissed the covers off of each of their plates. Tony wasn’t surprised to find that everyone had something different. The spaghetti on his was Tony’s absolute favorite. Judging by the smiles the others gave, their plates carried their favorites, too.

“Show off,” Alec teased lightly, warmth and love clear to hear in his voice.

Magnus grinned unrepentantly. “I have no idea what you mean, darling.”

There were more than a few snorts around the table at that. Not that it bothered Magnus any. He just chuckled and began to dig into his own dish, which looked to be a pasta and vegetable dish that Tony knew he favored. Tony could remember trying to conjure up that dish for Magnus once, just as he remembered a time when he’d been so very young and had tried to _make_ it. By hand.

Catarina had insisted on giving Tony cooking lessons after that disaster. She’d been horrified by the state of the kitchen when she came over. Magnus, who had been by Tony’s side every step of the way – he hadn’t been about to let a six-year-old use a stove all by himself – had only laughed at her. Then he’d sat down and eaten every bite of it. Overcooked noodles, undercooked vegetables and all.

Even now, Tony remembered how disgusting it’d been. _He_ hadn’t wanted to touch it. But Magnus had eaten a whole bowl of it without a single complaint.

The memory washed over Tony, making him smile faintly. When he blinked his eyes clear he found that Magnus was wearing an equally fond smile. Unable to resist, Tony teased him. “Does it taste better than mine did?”

Magnus speared a piece of asparagus and brought it up to take a grinning bite. “Oh, no. Yours was better.”

A laugh tumbled past Tony’s lips. “Mine was a disgusting mess I still can’t believe you actually _ate_.”

“Ah, but you made it for me.” He said it like it was the simplest thing in the world. Like that had been all that had mattered to him. Likely, it had been.

Tony shook his head. The rest of the table was watching them, he knew, and Tony figured it’d be better to give them something than to leave them to either blurt out whatever question first came to mind or start demanding things. Better if he steered the conversation himself. To open up the floor for it, Tony used his fork to gesture at the rest of the table.

“I don’t know if you guys realize this, but this guy over here…” Tony turned his fork to point at Magnus. “Is a giant sap. Especially where kids are concerned. When I was a kid, I got this idea in my head that I wanted to make something for him. Not just a conjured plate of food, but actually make it, you know?” Tony remembered how he’d had a talk with Ana just a few days earlier when she’d explained how much she loved baking for him. How she liked to make food for people as a way to show she loved them. Tony had immediately gotten the idea of making something for Magnus.

“You were so cute,” Magnus said.

Rolling his eyes, Tony chose to ignore that and just keep telling his story to the clearly fascinated audience. “Anyway. I wanted to make him something, but I was six, so I wasn’t allowed to work the stove by myself. I made him promise not to help me except for with the dangerous stuff, but that meant that I was trying to cook food on my own. By the time Zia Cat showed up, the whole kitchen was a disaster zone, and I’d managed to make a plate of something that might’ve been considered food by a starving kid in a third-world country.”

“It was delicious!” Magnus insisted faithfully.

Everyone around them was laughing. Even Alec was grinning at them.

Tony curled his upper lip in a clear sneer. “The noodles were almost mush, and the vegetables were still hard. And it might’ve been years ago, but I still remember that sauce…” Pausing, he shuddered theatrically.

Next to him, Raphael snorted in disgust. “You’re both ridiculous,” he told them, only serving to make the others laugh even more.

This time it was Magnus who used his fork to point, right at Raphael. “You have no room to talk. You ate the cookies!”

Laughter bubbled up from Tony. God, it felt good to laugh! To let go of the fear and pain that had eaten at him lately and finally start to relax in a place that Tony knew he was safe in. There was nothing that could get him here inside of Magnus’ loft. And if anything got in and tried to cause him trouble, well, he had a centuries-old warlock, a group of Shadowhunters, and a couple vampires here. Tony wouldn’t have to handle any of it alone.

His thoughts were interrupted by a weird sort of squeaking noise. When Tony looked up, he found Simon staring back and forth between Tony and Raphael, utterly oblivious to the death glare that Raphael was sending his way. “You made him _cookies_?” Simon asked incredulously. “But, I mean, he would’ve been…”

“Unable to eat them?” Tony finished. At Simon’s nod, Tony grinned. “I know. I figured a way around that.”

No one had to even ask. Magnus, who was already chuckling, quite happily told them “He replaced the milk in the recipe with blood. It was the single most disgusting thing I’d ever seen, and yet Anthony was quite proud of himself. Neither Catarina nor I had the heart to say anything against them. And, bless him, Raphael even ate some right in front of him.”

Raphael’s glare deepened when all eyes turned towards him. He raised an eyebrow as if in a silent dare. “He was six.” That was the only explanation he gave. Somehow, he packed it full of threat, too, which only served to make Tony’s grin grow.

The blondie – who Tony realized still hadn’t been introduced, though the process of elimination gave him a pretty good idea that this had to be Jace, Alec’s parabatai – made a sound of disgust down low in his throat. “Well, now I’m thoroughly grossed out.”

“As if you haven’t discussed more disgusting topics,” Alec shot back at him.

Though it looked like Jace was gearing up to say something, they were all saved from that by Isabelle, who leaned in with a low “Boys” that cut them off. She smiled across the table at Tony, who smiled right back at her. “Ignore them,” she said, waving her fork in Jace’s direction. “Jace is just grumpy. I’d love to hear more of your stories. It seems like you guys have known one another for quite a while.”

That wasn’t exactly the most subtle push that Tony had ever received. Though, Tony imagined a lot of people were distracted when Isabelle asked them questions. Tony wasn’t immune to the way she leaned forward, or the cleavage she was showing. However, he’d learned a long time ago how to appreciate those things without letting them make him stupid. If he were led continuously around by his dick, he never would’ve survived the cutthroat world of business and weapons manufacturing. There were a few ladies he’d met at various dinners and galas that could give Isabelle here a run for her money in the shameless department.

Not that what Isabelle was asking was something challenging to answer. Tony had debated a lot of it before he came here. Having shared some of the truth with Alec, and given Magnus permission to share more, there was no real reason to keep it from everyone else.

Tony smiled, not letting his thoughts show at all on his face. “Oh, yeah. I’ve known Maggie my whole life. Rafi, not so much. I think I was around four or so when I first met him.” He slanted a look over at Raphael to confirm it and got a nod in return. “Yeah, four. But, I’m pretty sure Jarvis said I was like, six months old when Maggie and I met the first time.”

“You were the sweetest little baby,” Magnus said softly, a fond smile curving his lips.

Down at the end, Jace let out a low cough, and an amused “ _Maggie_?” that was cut off by a grunt. Judging by the pained look he shot his sister, she must’ve stepped on him, or something else like that. But then Isabelle was looking up and smiling again as if nothing were wrong, and Tony had to smother his own urge to laugh. “So you two really have known one another for quite a while.”

Tony put down his fork and reached out for his goblet instead. He ignored the others, eyes going right to Isabelle and holding there. “You know, I’ve heard a lot about you Lightwoods. Your reputation precedes you. So, I’ve got to say, I’m honestly not sure if I should be complimented that you’re not putting in any real effort to be discreet in getting information or offended that you think I’m either that stupid or that easily led.” Tony sat back in his seat and lifted the goblet up to his lips, his free hand absently rubbing at his aching ribs. It didn’t stop him from smirking at her, though. “Try actually asking me a question. You might find you’ll get further. Then again, you might not.” He shrugged as if to say _Who knows?_

To his surprise, Tony could see Alec hiding his own smile behind a bite of food.

Isabelle barely even flinched over Tony’s words. She set down her own fork, ignoring the plate of tandoori chicken that she’d been eating, and she picked up her goblet as well. “How do you and Magnus know each other? The High Warlock of Brooklyn and the top weapons manufacturer in the whole of the mundane world don’t exactly seem like your typical friends.”

There was only a small jolt in Tony at the title she’d given him. _At least it wasn’t Merchant of Death._ “Stark Industries doesn’t make weapons anymore,” Tony told her, voice a bit flat and just a few degrees colder than it had been before. He felt Raphael’s leg lean in to brush against his, and he drew strength from it, trying to battle down the twisting in his stomach.

To Tony’s surprise, they were interrupted by Alec, and the voice he used was both steady and firm. A leader’s voice. “Does it really matter how they know one another? The last I checked, we were here for a friendly dinner, not for an interrogation.”

Something inside of Tony softened a little at the steadiness of Alec’s words. He got the impression that he could stay quiet and Alec would make sure that no one pressed him anymore about anything. That Alec would control his siblings and keep them from being pushy. He barely knew Tony, and yet he was willing to defend him like this. It wasn’t something that many people had done for Tony. He was more used to just being thrown to the sharks and left to fend for himself.

Magnus spoke next before Tony could figure out what he wanted to say or do. “I was friends with their butler, Edwin Jarvis, and he often brought Anthony along with him to see me. I babysat him quite a few times.”

 “Or you pawned him on me to babysit,” Raphael cut in.

A wide grin flashed over Magnus’ face. “You loved it, dear heart. Don’t think you can pretend otherwise.” Still grinning, Magnus turned to the others, and Tony just knew the next thing out of his mouth was going to be embarrassing. Most likely for both Raphael and him. “You should’ve seen these two when they first met. Raphael was still gruff and slightly cranky, and Anthony thought for sure that meant that Raphael hated him. So naturally, he tried to do everything he could to charm Raphael into liking him. And despite being only five, I assure you, there was quite a bit of charm…”

Whatever tension that had built up around the table was lost as Magnus drew them in with stories of Tony and Raphael, who in turn had stories of their own about him that they happily shared. It pulled the others in quickly enough, and soon they were requesting stories or laughing as they watched Magnus grin unrepentantly at whatever tale his adoptive kids were telling.

Not that Magnus didn’t get his revenge. He poked right back at everyone with just as many stories as they told about him.

It made the rest of dinner pass easily enough. Tony found himself relaxing little by little in the friendly and comfortable atmosphere around the table. He stopped eating about halfway through his plate – a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by his family. But the wine in his goblet, the family around him, those were what Tony needed more than food right then. His body was still sore and aching as it tried to heal from the fight with Obie, and his heart was even worse. Being here, feeling this, it was like a balm for him, easing some of it until Tony felt like he might be able to actually breathe again.

They moved easily from dinner at the table to drinks in the living room. Tony was more than happy with the arrangement. Magnus and Alec shared a chair, everyone laughing at the blush on Alec’s face when Magnus pushed him down and then unashamedly sat right on his lap. Clary and Jace sat together in a chair as well, with Clary on Jace’s lap, while Isabelle took the loveseat, and Simon and Raphael took the couch.

Tony took the seat next to Raphael. He had to brace on Raphael’s shoulder to sit without pain, and hope that no one was able to see it. Raphael, thankfully, didn’t comment on it. He just held still and let Tony use him. When Tony finally sat down and was half leaned against him instead of the armrest on his other side, Raphael didn’t comment on that, either. Privately, Tony vowed to do something nice for him in the future.

Their easy table conversation seemed to have carried with them into the living room. Easier, even, thanks to the alcohol they were drinking.

Still, Tony wasn’t surprised when somehow the conversation managed to make its way back to where it’d started. These people were clearly curious about the sudden addition of someone new to what Tony was realizing was a private thing for them. He got the feeling that this whole ‘family dinner’ thing was somewhat new, but also well on its way to becoming a habit. They’d already clearly done it often enough that adding in a person they didn’t know was strange.

Tony had been thinking for most of the night about what he wanted these people to know. Clearly, Magnus trusted these people, if his stories were anything to go by. Not to mention the fact that he’d allowed them to meet Tony at all. People that Magnus didn’t trust weren’t allowed to know of Tony’s connection to him.

Magnus and Catarina had taught Tony that he had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. That he was who he was – and that who he was, was _amazing_. Here, in this loft, it was easier for Tony to feel that. Having Magnus here and Raphael by his side only added to that ease.

That lack of shame, or the comfort that Tony felt in being here, or maybe even the alcohol – who knew? – combined together to make Tony a lot blunter than he might’ve overwise been. So, when Simon casually asked him “So do you like, have the Sight or something? Is that how you get to know all about this stuff? Cause I got the impression that telling mundanes was a huge no-no,” some stupid part of Tony, the part that had always made Magnus lament about Tony’s ability to give an ageless warlock gray hair, had the engineer slumping down in his seat a little and casually saying “Probably helps I’m not a mundane.”

Closing his eyes to half-mast, Tony watched from behind his lashes as everyone froze. Magnus’ eyes went wide for a second, then he slumped down with the kind of sigh that said he might not have been expecting this, but he probably should’ve. Under him, Alec was watching with a concern that was clear and a bit surprising.

Jace was tensed, ready for trouble, while Clary looked interested, and Isabelle’s eyes narrowed a bit while still managing to make her look like Tony had confirmed something she’d already been thinking. From the angle Tony was sitting at, he wasn’t able to see Simon, but he wasn’t too worried about him.

The tension he felt in Raphael’s body had him reaching one hand up to pat at his arm.

“ _¿Qué estás haciendo?_ ” Raphael hissed at him, voice low and threatening. Even without looking up Tony knew that Raphael had to be glaring down at him.

Tony patted his arm again. Then he leaned in so that he could tip his head to rest it against Raphael’s shoulder. “ _Babbo_ trusts all of you. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” Tony said it like the simple truth it was. He said it with the kind of trust and faith that he didn’t show anyone – that he’d been afraid these past few days might’ve been burned out of him. “I’m not going to lie and hide. Not here.”

He could see the way that Magnus softened at that. His home had always been a sanctuary for Tony. Having new people in Magnus’ life wasn’t going to change that.

“You’re a warlock,” Isabelle said. It wasn’t really a question, either. More like a statement of fact.

Tony didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to, really. His lips were curving up, his playboy, you-don’t-scare-me smirk in place.

A surprised noise came from Jace. “How is it there’s no record of that? We know of lots of famous Downworlders. How do we not know who you are if you’re really as famous as Izzy seems to think you are?”

If? _If_? Tony couldn’t help how he snorted at that. “Blondie, right now I’m probably the single most famous person in the world.” It wasn’t hard to imagine his ‘I am Iron Man’ speech was being played everywhere. The thought of that brought up all the other thoughts that Tony was trying so very hard not to think about. He forced them down as best as he could and hoped that nothing on the outside gave him away. Then he hurried to keep speaking, doing what he always did – distracting with words. “Still, it wasn’t exactly hard to keep it a secret. Only a handful of people know the truth, and over half are dead. Not that they would’ve told anything when they were alive. And the ones who are still around aren’t going to go blabbing it about.”

“Anthony’s family brought him to me to help hide his Mark,” Magnus said, twisting himself a little on Alec’s lap to better look around the room. “I had to renew the glamour every year until he was able to hold it on his own. In that time, we progressed naturally to student and teacher. I taught him, trained him, and I kept him safe. I wasn’t going to let him get on the Clave’s radar.”

Raphael, who was still tense, spoke up in a low voice that was full of warning. “And we’re not going to now, either.”

“Not that it’d matter,” Tony pointed out. He lifted his goblet and drained the last of it, enjoying the way it warmed him as it went down. “JARVIS and I would just have to break in again and fix things. Though, really, I’d rather not. We’re on vacation right now.”

It didn’t really connect in Tony’s head what he’d said – a sign that he’d had way too much to drink while still hungry and exhausted, which was never a good combo – until Magnus suddenly said: “Excuse me?” When Tony looked over at him, the older warlock was sitting up straight and glaring over at Tony in a way that promised he was in _deep shit_. “Did I hear you right? Did you just admit to hacking into the Shadowhunter databases?”

All at once everyone else was reacting, too, saving Tony briefly from having to face Magnus and explain himself. There were a few loud exclamations, a shouted: “Wait, _what_?” Even Alec was sitting up a little straighter and leaning to clearly see Tony from around Magnus. “You break into Shadowhunter files?”

There was no real point in denying it. Tony tried his best don’t-be-mad-at-me smile, which fell a little flat when Magnus’ expression didn’t even twitch. For the moment, Tony ignored that, focusing on the man behind Magnus instead. “Sweetheart, there’s not really any place J and I _can’t_ break into. It’s what we _do_. But, it helps when a good eighty-three point seven percent of the population uses at least some small piece of Stark technology. Even Shadowhunters. They might use their own people to set some of it up, and plenty of magic to hold it all together, but at the very core of some of your files and systems is basic human technology. I mean, there’s got to be _somewhere_ all those files are stored at unless they’ve finally managed to create a magical hard drive.”

“So you can just get into our files anytime you want?” Clary asked. She didn’t look happy about it, though she did look _interested._

Tony shrugged the shoulder that wasn’t pressed against Raphael. “Could. Doesn’t mean I do, of course, but I can.” At the unhappy, even _angry_ looks from the Shadowhunters, Tony sighed. One of his hands waved lazily through the air. “Oh, calm down. I’ve only ever kept an eye on some things, or altered some tiny stuff. I had to make sure they hadn’t figured out who I was.” Not to mention he had to make sure that Magnus was safe. That had always been Tony’s motivation behind things. He and JARVIS periodically went in to make sure there was nothing about Magnus in there that they needed to worry about.

The sound of a phone chiming broke into their conversation. The sound was coming from Jace, who pulled his phone out of his pocket to check it.

Whatever else might’ve been going on around them was forgotten when Tony caught sight of the phone in the man’s hands. He almost dropped his goblet as he scrambled to sit up, uncaring entirely about his aching ribs. Tony just put a hand over them and used his other to brace on Raphael’s leg and better sit himself up. Moving didn’t change what he was seeing, though. “Oh, _hell_ no!” Tony blurted out.

Everyone was looking at him in surprise. Not that Tony cared. All he cared about was that atrocious piece of technology that Jace was holding.

The Shadowhunter looked up from whatever message he was reading to give Tony a surprised and suspicious look. “What?”

“You... you come into _my house,_ and you dare use that inferior garbage right in front of me? _In my house?_?” Tony gestured at the phone, almost flinging his goblet in his agitation.

A few of the others were starting to understand what was going on. Simon was already chuckling, and Clary had a hand over her mouth to hide her grin. Magnus didn’t bother with that. He was grinning outright.

Jace, however, was more than a little confused. He looked down at his phone, which Tony was still staring at with evident loathing, and then back up to Tony. “Um, what?” Then his eyes darted over to Magnus. With a jerk of his thumb, Jace gestured towards Magnus while turning back to Tony. “Also, isn’t this his house? He’s never had a problem with my phone.”

Betrayal lit up Tony’s face. “First of all, I’m deeply offended that my own _babbo_ has apparently betrayed me this way. Second of all, any of his homes are my homes. That’s how this whole parent-child thing works.”

The term ‘parent-child’ drew a few looks of surprise, as well as a darted glance of confusion over to Magnus from the younger vampire. Tony ignored them.

“I’m not sure that’s how it actually works,” Alec said, the barest hint of teasing audible in his voice.

“It is,” Raphael and Tony said together. Nodding happily at his brother, Tony turned his focus back to Jace, and down to the atrocity he held in his hand. “Which means that I’m very tempted to kick you out for bringing that second-rate excuse for technology into _my home_.” An idea hit, and Tony quickly looked up at everyone else with horror. “Please tell me no one else here has these. Please tell me some of you actually know how to buy _good tech_.”

“I’ve got a Starkphone,” Clary said, pulling it out and waggling it in front of her. Simon shrugged and chimed in that he “Lost mine, so I’m phoneless right now. But I had a cheap LG before.”

It was the Shadowhunters who really drove the knife in, though. Isabelle looked almost apologetic as she explained, “They’re pretty standard issue. Our tech guy at the Institute seems to like them.”

Raphael let out a low groan. “Now you’ve done it,” he grumbled, sinking down a little in his seat.

Tony – Tony was frozen. The idea that the entire New York Institute was using _iPhones_ just because their tech guy _seemed to like them_ was… it was a travesty. One that, though he couldn’t rectify for everyone right this second, he might be able to do for those here in the room. A snap of his fingers brought the tablet that Tony had left on the counter over to his lap. He’d almost forgotten that JARVIS was mostly communicating through the tablet tonight – later, Tony would have to make it up to him for overlooking him. “J, buddy, light of my life, tell me we still have a stack of phones in the workshop, _please_.”

The way that over half the room jumped when JARVIS’s voice came from the tablet was something Tony was going to enjoy remembering later. “Not at the moment, Sir. However, I can have some delivered by morning if you’d like.”

“Damn. Yeah, all right, you do that,” Tony said, at almost the same time that Isabelle leaned in and asked: “Who is that?”

Huh? Looking up, Tony took in the curious way she was looking at his tablet and the way the others were so suspicious looking. Oh! Right. Tony shook his head and grinned. It looked like phone replacement was going to have to wait until the new ones arrived at the house. Either that or he’d have to steal some from nearby – it wasn’t like he just created things out of nothing when he snapped them up. And stealing his own tech from somewhere didn’t feel right.

Pushing all that side for now, Tony focused on Isabelle’s question, and happily gave her an answer. “Guys, I’d like you to meet JARVIS, my AI and the sole reason I’m still an alive and functioning human being half the time.”

“You made an _AI_?” Simon asked with clear awe in his voice. That was followed almost immediately by Jace asking “What’s an AI?”

It was Clary who answered that for him. “AI stands for artificial intelligence. It’s basically a computer that… that _thinks_.”

“He’s much more than that,” Tony said, offended on JARVIS’s behalf. No one ever seemed to quite understand just who or what JARVIS was. Not that Tony was after sharing him with everyone. There were many a one-night-stand who thought that the voice speaking to them through the house was just someone from security directing them. It wasn’t like Tony was all that eager to let on to the world that he’d essentially created a living being. One who Tony firmly believed was just as human as anyone else.

As if to show just that – and to show off the manners that Tony rarely ever used himself – JARVIS chose that moment to tell them all, “It’s a pleasure to meet all of you.”

“So polite, J,” Tony couldn’t help but tease him.

“One of us must be, sir. I’m willing to take on that burden until the day you decide it to be your turn.”

A grin stretched Tony’s lips. “Sassy tonight, are we, kiddo? What, no manners for your old man?”

The sound JARVIS made was kind of like a whir of processors kicking up briefly, but Tony knew JARVIS well enough to recognize it for the laugh it was. “I learned from the best, sir.”

The way that Tony visibly preened at that only made the others laugh.

“Usually I’ve got JARVIS all around me,” Tony told them. A snap and a wave refilled his goblet; he didn’t notice the disapproving look that Raphael had or the small headshake Magnus gave in response. He was too busy flashing a smile down at the tablet. “He’s wired into my whole house and all my suits. He’s with me, too, in a few different ways. I don’t ever go anywhere without him.” Not voluntarily, at least.

The thoughts of those three months without him came creeping up the back of Tony’s mind. He took a large drink in an effort to drown them out. Now was not the time to be thinking of that.

There was no one out there who knew Tony better than JARVIS did. He’d learned a long time ago to read Tony’s moods from countless different variables and to react accordingly. That meant that he likely noticed Tony’s brief slip even if no one else had. He proved that thought by speaking up and steering the conversation gently away from Tony. “It’s my pleasure to help Mr. Stark run both his household and his company. I work in the capacity of personal assistant as well as security and am present in each of Sir’s homes. Barring this one, of course.”

The way he said that made it absolutely clear that wasn’t by personal choice.

Magnus, not the least bit offended by his tone, laughed. “There are some things my children and grandchildren need know nothing about, my dear.”

“I feel no need to witness what happens in the privacy of your own rooms, _Nonno_ ,” JARVIS said primly. “So long as it holds no ill effects for Mr. Stark, it would be of little concern to me. My concern is for his safety and well-being.”

Everything about Magnus went soft. “As is mine.”

“Wonderful. I’m sure you would have no issue with Mr. Stark’s installation of my systems within his private chambers, then.”

Turning his face in towards Raphael, a smile tugging at his lips, Tony tried to hide his amusement. Not everyone else was so kind. When he looked up, Isabelle was grinning at a mock-disgruntled Magnus. “You just got played,” she teased him.

Magnus rolled his eyes. “Does it count as being played if you’re well aware of it as it happens?”

“I think it makes it worse, actually,” Simon said, his own grin easy to hear.

As everyone dissolved into a round of teasing, Tony drew his legs up, unconsciously putting more of his weight against Raphael. He barely noticed when his brother’s arm moved, only that it was curling around him, better drawing him in. Tony snuggled against his side and let the banter wash over him like warm waves. He might be in a room with a few strangers, but he was also in a room with _family_. The only real family he had that were still alive – technically speaking, in Raphael’s case.

With the warm comfort of family, Tony’s exhausted body finally started to drift off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry I didn't reply to comments, I got this up late for me. Next time, I promise!


	6. Chapter 6

Watching the tiredness that slowly drug at Tony all night long was painful. From the moment they’d picked him up at his place, to him finally crashing against Raphael on the couch, pain and exhaustion had been written all over him for Magnus to read. He’d wanted nothing more than to cancel family dinner and bundle his boy up in bed for a while. To take care of him until some of the shadows finally started to vanish from his eyes.

Unfortunately, Magnus knew his boy well enough to know just how little Tony would like that plan. He was so stubborn and fiercely independent. Any sort of caretaking wasn’t going to happen when there was the chance that others might see it. Nor would his pride allow him to back out of dinner – a dinner _he’d_ suggested, no less – and run the risk of coming off as weak in the eyes of just about anyone. No matter how much it hurt him personally, Tony was a man of his word, and he was a man who would do anything to take care of those he cared about. In Tony’s mind, that clearly meant meeting and assessing the people that had become so much a part of Magnus’ life.

Magnus watched as the alcohol, the lack of food, and the past _months_ of hell finally caught up with his boy, dragging him down into sleep. Raphael had clearly sensed it coming. He’d moved his arm and used it to draw Tony in better against his side. When the goblet in Tony’s hand began to slip, vampire reflexes managed to catch it before a drop could be spilled.

There was only the barest hint of self-consciousness on Raphael’s face as he passed the goblet over to Simon to hold. More than a few eyes had shifted to the pair on the couch. The only outward sign that Raphael gave of noticing it was a slight tension to his shoulders that Magnus only saw because he knew him so well.

A look up was all it took for Magnus to know what Raphael was asking. Luckily, Magnus had already taken care of this earlier. “Left hallway, down at the end.”

Raphael nodded at him. Then he turned his body and, in a move that spoke clearly to everyone of longtime practice, he tightened his one arm around Tony’s back while slipping his other down underneath his legs. One smooth move had Tony up off the couch and in Raphael’s arms. The kid didn’t even wake for it, nor as Raphael carried him out of the room.

It wasn’t until Raphael was out of sight that anyone spoke. “Wow,” Clary said, her eyes still trained on where the vampire had gone. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Raphael so… gentle, before.”

“He’s always had a gentle soul,” Magnus said. Even if people didn’t see it, it was there. Underneath the glares and the gruff attitude was someone who, when they allowed themselves to care, cared _deeply_. He and Tony were so much alike in that aspect. They both hid who they really were under masks. Raphael put on a gruff and uncaring one, while Tony liked to make people think he was no more than a drunk playboy.

It wasn’t really a surprise that Simon spoke up in Raphael’s defense, too. “He’s a lot nicer than you guys give him credit for.”

Despite all the terrible things that those two had gone through concerning one another, the fights that had gotten rather large and even deadly, there was clearly an affection there between them. One that Magnus was enjoying watching bloom into something more. So far it had been a slow process, yet sort of beautiful to watch at the same time. Magnus had to smother a chuckle as he thought about just how much Tony was going to enjoy ribbing Raphael about it.

“He cuddled,” Clary said in a voice that carried a hint of awe mixed together with amusement. Mischievousness sparkled in her eyes as they slanted towards Simon. “I didn’t even know he knew how to cuddle. I mean, he looked like he was made of stone, and I’ve got no idea how Tony found that comfortable, but he was like, arm draped over him and everything.”

Because he was, at heart, occasionally an asshole, Magnus couldn’t quite help how he grinned. “You think that was adorable? You should see the pictures I have of them cuddling when Anthony was just seven…”

“Not if you value your life.”

Raphael’s flat voice startled the others, even the Shadowhunters, but it only made Magnus’ grin grow even wider. He had quite the set of pictures of those two. Who was he to pass up potential blackmail in the future? Plus, come on, was he really supposed to resist the adorable picture those two made together? Especially that time he’d run out for something and come back to find a seven-year-old Anthony having his nails painted by a far-too-serious looking Raphael. _That_ picture was one that Magnus was keeping all for himself.

“He down?” Magnus asked, opting to forego the teasing for now.

“For now.”

Those two words had Magnus wanting to wince. Nightmares had always been a thing for Tony. Even as a young child he’d had them when he stayed over. Traumatic situations tended to make them worse – and Tony had lived through far too many traumatic situations. After what he’d been through recently there was no doubt in Magnus’ mind that tonight wasn’t going to be an easy one.

Fortunately, Alec seemed to not only pick up on Magnus’ mood but somehow managed to figure out just the right thing to do to help it. It was a trait he had that Magnus had never been able to figure out. Maybe it was just the natural leader in him that was able to take in a situation and assess what needed to be done.

 _Or maybe it’s the big brother in him_ , Magnus thought to himself as he watched Alec bluntly kick everyone out of the loft, telling them all they were tired, and it was time to go home.

Whatever it was, in short order Alec managed to get Jace, Clary, Isabelle, and Simon all out of the loft. The only one who hadn’t left was Raphael. He stuck around a moment longer, until the others were gone. Then he fixed Magnus with a firm, serious look. “Do you need me to stay?”

There were very few that Raphael would’ve made this offer for. Or in front of. It said just how far his trust of Alec had come.

Magnus smiled softly at the boy he considered his, and he stepped forward to pull him into a hug that Raphael reluctantly allowed. “I’ve got it. But keep your phone on you. You know how he gets sometimes.”

The darker look in Raphael’s eyes when they pulled back said that, yes, he remembered exactly how bad it could get for Tony sometimes. He’d always done better after nightmares if there was someone there to talk to him and hold him, to help anchor him back down and give him the positive touch he always craved, but after the kidnapping when Tony was eight, there were times where he couldn’t settle until he spoke with both Magnus and Raphael. It’d been Raphael who’d pulled Tony out of that hellhole, and Magnus who he’d brought him to. Talking to them helped to settle those old fears that could creep up in dreams.

Magnus managed to keep up his calm expression until after Raphael was gone and the door was shut behind him. As soon as it did, Magnus sighed and let himself slump down. “Well, that could’ve been better. But it could’ve been much worse.”

He felt it as Alec moved up behind him. There was only the smallest of hesitations before the Shadowhunter’s arms slid around Magnus’ waist. Alec never seemed to think he was all that great at giving out comfort. Yet it was exactly what Magnus needed right then. He laid his hands over Alec’s and let himself lean back into his boyfriend’s steady strength. “I think they all liked him,” Alec murmured near his ear.

Magnus gave a low hum. “Of course they did.”

He felt more than heard it as Alec chuckled. Then he turned his head in and pressed a kiss against Magnus’ cheek. “He’ll be okay, Magnus. Whatever’s going on with him, whatever you’re worried about, just remember he’s _here_ right now. He’s just down the hall. No one’s going to be able to get to him here.”

Just hearing those words said by someone other than himself helped Magnus to relax a little bit. He leaned more of his weight against Alec, eyes drifting shut. So much had happened these past weeks – _months_. So much pain, and so much joy. It felt like Magnus had hit some of his highest highs, and his lowest lows, and even though it was all starting to work itself out again there was just a part of him that couldn’t help but be afraid that everything good was going to get ripped away.

In these past months Magnus had found a new love, grieved for the loss of someone he considered like his child, fought against Valentine, lost friends, faced old loves, found new family, almost lost all of them, briefly lost Alec, and then somehow they’d managed to defeat Valentine. Now, Alec was back in his life, and Tony was not only alive, but he was _here_. It was a roller coaster of events, with so little time to stop and just breathe.

That made moments like this all the more meaningful. Magnus pressed his hands firmer against Alec’s arms, tightening his partner’s grip on him, and tried to sigh out a little more of his own tension.

Alec was right. Tony was safe. He was here. There was no way that anyone was going to be able to get to him. JARVIS had given Magnus a summary of this past week; all the things that Tony either wouldn’t be able to say or hadn’t yet had the chance to say. Knowing all of that only made Magnus all the more grateful to have Tony under his wards right now.

The rest of things could be dealt with later. For now, Tony was here, safe and sleeping, and Alec was holding Magnus up with that steady, unfaltering strength of his. For one brief moment in time, Magnus held on, leaning on his strength, and just _breathed_.

* * *

Their peace didn’t last. Magnus got a few hours alone with Alec, for which he was more than grateful, but he wasn’t surprised to be woken up by one of his wards tripping. He’d set those wards up years and years ago to alert him to anyone having a nightmare in his home. Originally, he’d meant them only for Tony, the only person who stayed over that he really had to worry about, but this past year had shown that those wards worked for anyone when Magnus found them going off when Alec had a bad dream.

They were a necessity for Tony. The kid didn’t dream like others – he didn’t wake up screaming, didn’t thrash and moan. No; he simply curled into the smallest ball possible and froze.

The sight had broken Magnus’ heart when he’d first discovered it while Tony was still young, and it broke his heart now as he moved silently into Tony’s room. “Oh, Anthony.”

Tony was a barely noticeable lump underneath the mound of blankets on the bed. He lay in the center in a small ball, the only outward sign of defense that he allowed himself. There were no tears, no whimpers or screams or anything. It made Magnus’ heart ache. He didn’t even think before he moved, doing what he’d always done. He lifted the blankets and slid right down into the bed in front of Tony. “Anthony, darling, wake up,” Magnus made his voice low and soothing, wanting to draw him out without scaring him. At the same time, he reached out to him and, though Tony had gotten bigger and older, Magnus still easily lifted Tony’s upper half and drew him into his arms. “Wake up, little one. You’re just dreaming. I’m here, and you’re safe now. I’ve got you.”

As always, the shift from dreaming to reality came with a sharp, hard jolt for Tony. One second he was pressed up against Magnus, and the next his whole body jolted like he’d been electrocuted.

Magnus didn’t try to force him to stay. He relaxed his arms, letting Tony yank away from him. In the semi-dark of the room it wasn’t hard to see the glowing red of Tony’s eyes, or the way his magic – just as red as the rest of him – was crackling around his fingers. It made the glow of the blue light in his chest seem even brighter than before.

There were panic and fear-born anger written clearly in Tony’s eyes when they locked on Magnus. Keeping himself calm despite his own ache, Magnus didn’t move, didn’t even lift his hands. Not yet. “ _Stai bene, tesoro_.” The words were soft, yet steady, and spoken in the language that he knew would reach Tony best right now. Keeping his gaze, Magnus smiled at him, hating the pain he could see all over Tony. “ _Sei al sicuro, Antonino_. _Sei al sicuro_.”

With every reassuring word that Magnus murmured, the tension slowly started to drain out of Tony. Clarity returned to his eyes little by little, until suddenly, between one blink and the next, the shadows vanished, only to be replaced by a grief that had Magnus wanting to gather his magic and go destroy the bastards who had dared hurt _his boy_.

He was prepared for it when Tony collapsed towards him. Magnus already had his arms open to catch him even as Tony dropped down onto him. There was a small grunt from the both of them, and a hitched sound of pain from Tony, when the arc reactor hit Magnus right in the ribs. Wincing, he tugged Tony in closer, shifting them both a little so that they could get as close as they needed without putting the wrong kind of pressure on him.

Magnus made a mental note in the back of his mind to get ahold of Catarina and see if she could come take a look at the arc reactor and the shrapnel inside. There had to be something they could do. Or at least some way to ease things for Tony.

“ _Babbo_.” The word came out so soft and trembly Magnus almost didn’t hear it. He didn’t respond to it, though, not beyond a low hum. Tony hadn’t said it as a question, or as a prelude to something more, but as a confirmation. A reminder that Magnus was here, and that Tony wasn’t alone.

They didn’t speak for a while. Magnus knew that there were times Tony wanted to talk, and times where he just needed physical comfort. For someone who had grown up with both his parents, and with people in his life who loved him, Magnus had never seen a child be so touch-starved. Tony had soaked up every touch he was given be it good or bad. He _craved_ it, and sometimes loathed it in equal measures. As if he’d gotten so used to not having it that actually getting it was almost _painful_ for him.

Tony had gotten so much better about it over the years. As he got older, he found ways to supplement that need for touch. Granted, they weren’t always the best of ways. Magnus knew that plenty of people didn’t approve of Tony’s one-night stands. He was called a playboy, a slut, considered cold and harsh for not settling down with one person. As if somehow a mutually enjoyable encounter between two consenting parties was _bad_. Or like Tony didn’t make absolutely sure that the people he took home knew that he wanted nothing more than a night with them.

He needed the physical contact; the connection between himself and someone else, without the vulnerability that came with the simpler touches. Hugs, cuddles, hair ruffles, pats to the back, or even a simple hand entwined with his. For Tony, those weren’t something that he could take easily. Sex was easy. It was just as much a mask as anything else that he pulled on. But the rest of it? Oh, the rest of it would require letting go of the walls that Tony kept himself safely ensconced inside of.

Even with Magnus, he didn’t easily accept the casual and comforting touches. He was more likely to, and much more relaxed than anywhere else, but it was still hard for him. It still took him a few days to settle in and get used to it enough to let go.

But in moments like these, when nightmares forcibly broke down those walls, and the dark of the room around him acted as a cover for the emotions that would play in his face, Tony didn’t have the strength to deny himself what he so desperately needed. He took whatever touches Magnus gave him – and Magnus made damn sure to give him plenty. To offer him the love and comfort that he knew Tony gathered inside of him like precious jewels, hoarding them away for the days when he was alone and without anyone there to help him.

Magnus was so caught up in his thoughts, he almost didn’t hear it when Tony spoke. The words were soft, just barely there and muffled against Magnus’ shirt. “He took it out.”

For the moment, Magnus chose not to say anything. He just continued to stroke a hand over Tony’s back while he waited for more. He had no doubt more was coming.

He wasn’t wrong, either. He just wished there’d been some way to prepare for what he was about to hear.

“He took it out,” Tony repeated softly. One of his hands came up, curling in to press over the arc reactor in a gesture that made it damn clear what he was talking about. Unaware of Magnus’ growing horror, Tony pressed in closer. “He used the paralyzer on me, and he took it out. I couldn’t… I couldn’t do anything, couldn’t even feel my magic. If Dum-E hadn’t…”

Tony trailed off, choking on his words, and sweet merciful hell, Magnus had never felt so grateful to a piece of semi-intelligent machinery before.

The next words Tony spoke hit Magnus like a blow even though he’d heard them earlier. Hearing them said out loud for a second time didn’t lessen their impact at all. “He hired the Ten Rings.” A choked sound, somewhere between a sob and a gasp, was pressed into Magnus’ shirt. “He wanted them to kill me. He… I trusted him, _babbo_.” Then, in a softer voice, so low Magnus might not have been able to hear it if he weren’t clutching his magic, his senses heightened by the power raging inside of him. “I thought he cared.”

And that right there was the worst of it. That was the part that had damaged Tony far more than anything else that had been done to him. Tony had trusted Obadiah – he’d thought that the man cared for him. And then Obadiah had tried to have him killed and then tried to kill him himself. Tony could take the pain of countless beatings and still get back up to spit right in the faces of those who thought they could break him. It was the ones that went for the _heart_ that did the worst damage. Tony didn’t trust easily, but he _loved_ easily, and those he loved were capable of breaking him in ways no one else was.

“Oh, Anthony.” There was nothing Magnus could say here, he knew. No magical words that would make this okay. Tony hadn’t ever been the type to be soothed by meaningless platitudes, either. So Magnus did the only thing he _could_ do. He tugged Tony in even closer against him and gave him the only promises he could. “I love you, little one. I love you, and Raphael loves you, and your Zia Cat loves you, and we’re not going anywhere.”

Over and over Magnus repeated those soft words to Tony. They weren’t much – they weren’t _enough_! – but they were all Magnus had to offer him. He whispered them to Tony and secretly raged against the world for adding yet another scar to an already damaged soul.

* * *

Morning came far too quickly. Magnus didn’t stay in bed with Tony; he knew better. If Tony woke up to Magnus still there in his bed cuddling him, it’d only serve to embarrass Tony even more. That was the last thing Magnus wanted to do. So, he made sure to slip out of bed before Tony, letting the tingle of his wards wake him up as he felt Alec leave either for the Institute or for his morning run. There was no telling unless Magnus got up. If it were work that drew Alec away, there’d at least be a note somewhere because no matter how much of a hardass Alec might come off as to others, he was one of the kindest, most considerate people Magnus knew.

There was no note in the bedroom when Magnus went to their bathroom to brush his teeth. However, after he pulled on his favorite robe and headed to the kitchen, he did find a sticky note with a small heart and a quick ‘be back soon’ scrawled on it. The note was on top of a covered platter on the counter that Magnus recognized instantly and grinned at. He’d spelled that particular platter and lid specifically for moments like this. It was spelled to make sure that the contents stayed at the temperature they were when you put them in. He’d made it after Alec complained once about wishing to be able to leave some breakfast behind if he had to leave before Magnus woke up.

The fact that Alec felt the need to make sure he made enough breakfast for Magnus, and that there was some waiting for him when he woke up even if Alec wasn’t there for it, was sweet and so utterly endearing. Magnus hadn’t been able to keep himself from laying Alec out on the table that morning and making his gratitude more than clear.

This morning there was a plate of cut fruits, as well a glass dish with a spinach and cheddar frittata. There was plenty enough for more than one person, and it was not only a breakfast of things that Magnus loved, he distinctly remembered telling Alec once that this was comfort food for him. Of course, he hadn’t told him that Maria Stark had made this for him and Tony a few times, back before life had gotten harder, and things had changed.

Magnus found himself smiling down at the food. “Alexander, you continue to surprise me.”

“Well, good to see some things never change. You still like to talk to yourself.”

The low words were husky and heavy with sleep, yet that didn’t take away from the amusement in them.

A smile was already on Magnus’ lips when he turned his head. He found Tony slowly shuffling his way into the room looking so much like the teenager he’d once been. The pajama pants and MIT hoodie he wore only seemed to emphasize his recent weight loss. Dark hair stuck up in every which direction – clearly, Tony hadn’t bothered finding a comb yet. His goatee needed a trim, his eyes were barely even open, and he looked like he could easily slide down to the floor and fall right back asleep. Magnus grinned at the sight. It was a familiar one. Not just from Tony’s college days, but from plenty of mornings after Magnus had pulled the kid out of his labs and forced him to get some rest.

“Good morning, petal,” Magnus greeted him cheerfully.

He wasn’t surprised by the scowl that Tony shot him. “Mornin’.” The word was just a grunt, barely even a real word.

Magnus leaned back against the counter and stayed out of the way, amused, as he watched Tony beeline straight for the coffee pot. A coffee pot that was decidedly empty.

It was more amusing than it should’ve been to watch Tony glare down at the coffee machine like it’d personally offended him by not having coffee in it. Magnus didn’t even try to smother his grin. He did, however, take pity on Tony. With a snap of his fingers and a wave of his hand the coffee pot filled with Tony’s precious drink.

The brat didn’t even show his gratitude. He just gave a happy groan and dove forward to grab a cup off the nearby cup-tree. Seconds later he had himself a mug full of coffee that he was cradling between his hands and happily inhaling the steam from.

“Your love for coffee is rather indecent,” Magnus commented dryly.

Tony’s answer was to shift one of his hands just enough that he could extend his middle finger without ever having to move the cup away from his mouth.

Chuckling, Magnus shook his head. “Sit down, Anthony. You need more than coffee to survive, and Alexander kindly left us a plate of breakfast foods to enjoy while he has his morning run.”

“A morning run?” Tony looked up at that, his nose wrinkling. “Gross.”

That was a sentiment Magnus shared in. He was never one for early morning runs. Oh, he could run if he had to, and he had his own workouts he did. Going for an morning run, however, was not one of them. Even if it was, it wouldn’t be at such a horrible time of day.

The two men settled down together at the table and happily split the breakfast tray between them. Magnus was well used to handling Tony and had no shame in employing any of the techniques he’d learned over the years. Distraction was a common one, especially when trying to convince the younger warlock to eat. If you could keep Tony occupied with conversation that drew his focus or stimulated his mind, he’d absently eat from whatever was put in front of him. Only in small doses, though. Too much at once and he’d just stir it around.

Luckily, there was never any real lack of conversational topics between them. Magnus wasted no time in launching into a story about a charm one of his clients wanted him to make. Discussing the making of magical objects was _always_ a good topic.

They were still talking about it when Alec came back. Though, Magnus quickly found himself distracted. And who could blame him! He had a gorgeous, sweaty Shadowhunter grinning at him before making his way towards the shower. Who could focus after a sight like that?

“Are you seriously just going to sit here?”

Magnus spun around, eyebrows going up in surprise. “What?”

The look in Tony’s eyes was full of mirth. He hid his smirk in his cup, and then arched one eyebrow. “Your boyfriend is currently covered in sweat, running on an exercise high, and about to strip down and get into your shower. And you’re still out here with me… why?”

A slow smile curved Magnus’ lips. “I do so love the way you think, darling.”

“Yeah, yeah. _Go_.”

Laughing, Magnus did just that.

* * *

It was about an hour later when Magnus and Alec finally made their way back out to the living room. Any signs of breakfast were gone, except for a fresh pot of coffee as well as a steaming pot of tea waiting on the table, and Tony himself looked like he hadn’t really moved much the entire time they were gone. One look at what he was doing and Magnus knew why.

The kid was curled up in his chair at the table and focused intently on the tablet in front of him. He was talking in a low voice that got clearer as Magnus came closer.

“…bad is it really?” Tony was asking. The screen flashed as the images on there clearly changed around. Not to good ones, Magnus judged, reading the frown that curved Tony’s lips. Whatever he was seeing was clearly something he didn’t like. “Well, we knew there was gonna be some blowback. How’re the numbers looking?” A short pause, and then Tony nodded. “Good, good. Pep’ll be happy about that, at least.”

“Doing business, darling?” Magnus asked. He casually brushed a hand over Tony’s hair when he passed him, going back to the same seat he’d been in earlier.

Tony didn’t even look up from his tablet. “People are idiots,” he said, in lieu of an actual answer. “Why are people such idiots? I haven’t even been gone twenty-four hours yet. Hell, they lasted _three months_ without me. Why can’t they manage twenty-four hours?”

Magnus swallowed down the words that tried to pop up. _During those three months, they had Obadiah._ That wasn’t something that Tony needed to think about or be reminded of in any way. Pushing those thoughts down, Magnus smiled and reached for the teapot. “Such is the life of a leader.”

“Tell me about it,” Alec grumbled. He’d grabbed his own cup of coffee now and was making his way over to the seat next to Magnus, across from Tony. “I’ve been getting messages and questions ever since I woke up.” His cell phone was in his hand and he was typing away. Seeing him use his phone like that – texting, answering messages, and yet still staying here to drink his coffee – was a step up from the way that Alec used to run every time someone messaged him. He’d gotten so much better at delegating when necessary.

When Alec sat down, coffee cup in one hand and phone in the other, it had Tony briefly looking up. The faint scowl that crossed his features only served to make him look younger – something that Magnus absolutely would not tell him. “Ugh. I almost forgot about your offensively appalling lack of taste, Lightwood. Did you have to remind me?”

Confusion flashed through Alec’s eyes. It was followed quickly by realization, and then that quiet humor that Magnus so loved to see there. “Yes.”

Tony scoffed, though his eyes were twinkling slightly. He dropped his gaze back down to the tablet and seemingly went back to work, his right hand scrolling through whatever it was that JARVIS was showing him. But then his left hand lifted, and he gave a simple snap and finger flick that he’d picked up from Magnus. The phone in Alec’s hand shimmered blue for a moment as it shifted into a new Starkphone. Alec didn’t jump – far too used to Magnus magicking things into his hands – but he did look down at his phone, a furrow appearing between his brows.

“J hacked your phone and transferred everything over for you,” Tony said, still not looking up. “Your contacts, messages, pictures, things like that. He also made sure that your number is the same. The phone’s all yours, and I’m sure you’ll find it has much better service than your last one. I’ve also got a few more for you, if you want to take them to your friends later.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Alec said slowly.

Again, Tony scoffed. This time he let himself look up to give Alec a quick mock-glare. “As if I’d let Maggie’s boyfriend walk around with subpar tech. We should talk later, by the way, about setting up a contract between Stark Industries and the New York Institute to better supply your Shadowhunters with the type of tech that suits their needs, not just what’s cheap or easy. In fact, if you could make a list of the type of features your phone might need…” Trailing off, Tony’s expression turned thoughtful. “JARVIS, open up a new project for me, would you? The types of things a Shadowhunter might need on their phone aren’t the same as the rest of the world. We’ll have to make theirs unique…”

“Speaking of subpar tech,” Magnus said, interrupting Tony before he could really get going. If they let him, Tony would forget all about them in the face of a new project. “I’m feeling slighted over here, Anthony. Where is _my_ new phone? This model is _months_ old.”

It was Magnus’ turn to receive a glare. His was a little sharper than Alec’s had been. “None of my tech is subpar, thank you very much. Sometimes it’s just outdated. Even then, it’s lightyears beyond whatever my pathetic excuses for competitors come up with.” Still, even as Tony scolded him, he snapped, and a brand-new phone appeared on the table in front of Magnus. Unlike Alec’s phone – which was a plain black, with just a few dark blue stripes running over the back of it – Magnus’s phone was wrapped in a gold phone case with glitter inside that moved when he picked it up.

Magnus grinned. “You know me so well, Anthony.”

Snorting, Tony shook his head and put his focus back on his tablet, tapping at the screen. “Or maybe you’re just getting predictable in your old age.”

That sassy little brat! Magnus chose to ignore Alec, who was trying to hide his grin in his coffee mug. He focused instead on the imp in front of him. Tony had his head ducked down, yet Magnus caught sight of the amused glance that was sent his way. “It’s like you’re asking for trouble, little boy.”

“Stick with what you’re good at,” Tony said, shrugging.

The buzz of Alec’s phone in his hand interrupted their banter. Magnus might’ve just ignored it and kept on if he hadn’t seen the brief flash over Alec’s face. He knew that look. Far too well, to be honest. “Duty calls?”

“I’m sorry,” Alec said. He looked it, too. There was clear apology in his eyes just as there always was when he got called away. “Apparently a group of new recruits was brought over today, even though they weren’t supposed to show up until next week. I’ve got to go get some things in order and get them squared away.”

Ah, new recruits. One of Alec’s least favorite things. They often came to the Institute with heads fresh and full of knowledge, ready and eager to start taking out demons. From the stories Alec told, that tended to mean that they were young, cocky, and occasionally arrogant. From Isabelle, Magnus learned that these recruits often also fell into two categories – they were either terrified of Alec or convinced that they were going to be able to show up the gay Shadowhunter who dared to date a Downworlder. As if that made Alec weak.

“Be safe,” Magnus murmured as he always did each time Alec left. He stole a brief kiss when Alec rose, enjoying the soft “Always” that Alec whispered against his lips.

The goodbye that Alec sent to Tony was met with a distracted wave and a “Don’t die” that had Magnus grinning and shaking his head.

Once Alec was gone, the door shutting behind him, Magnus turned his attention to his quiet companion. With Tony caught up in his tablet it was easy for Magnus to just sit and observe him. Take him in, in a way he hadn’t really been able to do yesterday or even last night. Tony was delightfully unguarded as he began to plot out with JARVIS the type of phone that a Shadowhunter might need. Like this, Magnus could look at him and see the things that Tony might otherwise try and keep hidden.

Like the tension in his shoulders, or the stilted way he waved his arms around. His posture was a bit different; then again, that was likely due to the arc reactor in his chest. (That was another thing on the list of things that Magnus wanted to check out) For those that knew how to read the signs, everything about Tony screamed that he was tired, hurting, and that he very much did _not_ want to talk about it. If he wanted to talk, he would’ve been leaning in, putting his focus on Magnus in a silent plea.

Instead, Tony had drawn his shoulders in, curling his body inwards the slightest bit in a defensive pose that meant that trying to draw information from him would be harder than pulling teeth.

If Magnus wanted to get anything out of him or get Tony to agree to let Catarina look him over, he was going to have to soften him up, first. Luckily that wasn’t really that hard to do, and Magnus knew just the way to do it. There was something he was more than a little curious to see.

“We should go to your house today,” Magnus suggested. He brought his mug up to hide his lips behind, eyes downcast so that he could peek up through his lashes and carefully watch Tony’s expression without getting caught. “It’s been a while since you’ve been able to really enjoy tinkering, and I haven’t seen my grandchildren properly in even longer. Unless you have things you need to attend to today?”

Tony’s hands paused only for a second in their work. Then they were moving again, and no one would’ve been able to guess that he’d hesitated at all if they hadn’t been carefully watching. “Nah, nothing. Pep got me ten days with nothing to do, so I’m all yours for as many of them as you want.”

A wide grin lit up Magnus’ face. Ten days? He was free to keep Tony here for _ten days_? “As if I won’t take them all. I’m a greedy soul, Anthony, as you well know.” Pausing, Magnus tilted his head, pretending to think. “Hm. We should grab you a few things while we’re there, then. Or, we could go shopping once we’re done and pick you up some new things. You need personal items and clothing to keep in your room here. Most of what you currently have in there is in need of replacing.”

“You sure we’ll have time to shop?” Tony asked. He finally turned his head enough to look up, and the expression on his face said clearer than words that Magnus hadn’t fooled him in the least. What he said next only further proved that. “I mean, between the time it’ll take you to check out the armor, the lecture that’ll follow, and then talking with Zia Cat this afternoon, you really think there’ll be time to go shopping, too?”

Magnus huffed and gave a small shake of his head. He should’ve figured. “Depends. Will you argue with me about every step we take, or will you submit to it willingly?”

“Do I get much of a choice?”

The words were meant to be teasing, Magnus knew that, and yet he couldn’t help how he sobered up instantly at them. In one move he sat forward and reached out to curl his hand around Tony’s. The boy’s eyes widened briefly with surprise as Magnus gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “You always have a choice, sweet boy.”

Everything about Tony went soft. The hardness around his eyes, the tension in his shoulders. Even the tight masks that he usually wore were softer in that moment. “I know,” he said quietly. “I know, _babbo_. Thanks.”

“You never have to thank me for that,” Magnus told him firmly.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for an emotional flashback in here. They're hard :(

Tony hadn’t quite been able to stop his nerves when he’d finally taken Magnus to his Malibu home and showed him the Iron Man armor. Logically, he knew Magnus would’ve seen it already either online, in the tabloids, or on the TV. Granted, he might not typically keep up too much with some of the mundane news, but a giant flying suit of armor? That wasn’t the type of thing Magnus was likely to miss. And once he’d heard of it, of course he’d look it up.

Still, Tony hadn’t been able to chase away the nerves. This wasn’t just anyone he was bringing in here. This was someone whose opinion mattered more than anyone else’s. If Magnus hated it…

Tony really should’ve known better. Magnus spent hours in there with Tony just marveling at each piece that Tony showed him. In no time at all the two had their heads bent over the parts as they debated various ways to incorporate magic into the suit without making it obvious for anyone who might see. Cloaking spells were something that Magnus was pretty good at, and Tony had a skill at building magical items that Magnus often told him was beat out by no one.

They could’ve easily lost the entire day working in there together. The only thing that saved them was that Magnus had messaged Catarina to meet them at Tony’s house instead of at Magnus’ loft.

Tony had stripped down to just a tank-top a while ago, and Magnus was in what was – for him – a plain grey t-shirt that read, in big letters done in pink, purple, and blue: _Both? Both. Both is good_. They had one of the suit’s boots on the table in front of them, the two standing on either side, and their heads were bent together while Tony used tools to point out various parts of the repulsor and explain the technology behind it.

They didn’t notice Catarina at first beyond a faint buzz against Tony’s wards that he logged away as _friendly_ and then promptly ignored, too caught up in science. He didn’t really acknowledge it until JARVIS announced her. “Sirs? Your afternoon guest has arrived. I’ve also taken the liberty of ordering pizza as well. Dr. Loss retrieved them from the delivery service and has placed them on the table upstairs; she asks that I let you know that it’s time to come upstairs and eat before she comes down to fetch you both.”

The words took a second to break through Tony’s focus and actually register in his brain. When they did, Tony half lowered his screwdriver. Then he turned to give a nearby camera a firm look. “You do realize that you answer to me, right, J? Not anyone else.”

“Of course, Sir.”

There was no point in arguing with him. Tony knew it wouldn’t get him anywhere. Rolling his eyes, he tossed his screwdriver down and carefully reached in to power down the boot. Magnus was already putting aside his own tool and snapping himself clean. He didn’t change his clothes, which made Tony smile to see. So far he’d started to get the impression that Magnus had changed styles completely again. Well-tailored shirts, vests, gorgeous renaissance jackets that hugged all the right places, the occasional cravat. He didn’t even seem to wear as much jewelry as he used to, and there was a definite lack of glitter. In a way, he’d looked almost… older. More responsible.

Seeing him now was a nice, refreshing reminder that the Magnus he’d always known was still in there. Between the baggy bisexual pride shirt, the skintight dark purple pants, black heeled ankle boots, and the spiked hair with purple streaks, plus just enough glitter and kohl to be deemed ‘acceptable for public’, he looked like what Tony had always associated with a _relaxed_ Magnus. Comfortable, not dressed up for anyone but himself, and _happy_.

“Come on,” Magnus said, running a now clean hand through his spiked hair. It gave him quite the mohawk look. “We shouldn’t keep Catarina waiting. You know how little she likes to wait.”

That was an understatement. Tony grabbed a rag and absently wiped some of the grease off his hands while he started to make his way towards the door. “Not like I have any real worries. She’d just blame it on you.”

There was a low huff of laughter, followed by an amused and resigned “Too true.” They both knew that Catarina had a soft spot for Tony. Magnus had always joked that Tony had her wrapped around his finger as a child; Catarina wasn’t ashamed to admit that the same still stood, even with Tony as an adult now. If anyone tried to tease her, she’d just point out that Tony was still a child by warlock standards, and that meant she was free to love and spoil him all she wanted. Though she’d often whisper to Tony afterward: “Not that your age would stop me. I don’t care how old you are, you’ll always be my sweet boy.”

A light blush stained Tony’s cheeks thinking about that. He ducked his head down in the hopes that Magnus wouldn’t see it and focused instead of cleaning his hands. Once he reached the door, he tossed the rag down into the bucket that was there just for that purpose. Later, Dum-E would take the rags to be cleaned. It was one of the few jobs that the bot didn’t usually mess up.

The two warlocks moved through the door and left the workshop behind, making their way up the staircase.

A hand settled in the small of Tony’s back just as they reached the top. It was meant as a comforting touch, but Magnus also shamelessly used the opportunity to send a wave of magic over Tony’s body, quick and warm like a summer breeze. Tony looked down as the blue sparks faded away, taking the last bit of grease on him with them. When he looked up, he caught just the edge of Magnus’ smirk. Seeing it had Tony shaking his head.

All of that was forgotten when a delighted, very familiar voice called out Tony’s name. “Tony!”

Tony’s face lit with a bright smile. His body moved without thought, stepping away from Magnus and turning towards the voice. When his eyes found Catarina standing beside the bar, his smile only grew. “ _Zia_ Cat.” The distance between them closed easily as the two moved in for the same greeting they’d shared since Tony was tiny. Only, instead of Catarina kneeling down to hug him, now she just dragged him in close and squeezed the daylights out of him. They were close in height – much to Tony’s consternation, and a source of frequent teasing from others – so it was easy for Tony to hug her back just as tightly as he buried his face in against her hair.

When they pulled back, Tony was stunned to see that Catarina’s eyes were wet with tears that she didn’t even try and wipe away.

One of them went sliding down her cheek, and it almost broke Tony’s heart. He was reaching out to wipe it away before he’d even thought about what he was doing. “Don’t cry, _Zia_ ,” Tony murmured. He ran his knuckle against her cheek to catch the next tear that came down as well. “Please don’t cry.”

“I’ll cry if I want to,” Catarina informed him firmly. She glared at him, the effect of it only heightened by the tears that stopped falling but continued to shine in her eyes. He wasn’t that surprised when she smacked at his bicep. “Don’t you ever do that to us again, you hear me?”

“I didn’t exactly choose to do it the first time,” Tony pointed out.

Pain flashed through Catarina’s dark eyes. Her hands came up, cupping his cheeks, and Tony could see it as parts of her took a backseat to the nurse that she was, her need to help and heal only amplified by her love for Tony.

Before she could start the inspection he knew she was about to do, Tony tugged back a bit, not quite able to explain why his heart lurched a bit, though he tried to cover it up quickly with a half-grin. “So we’re just diving right in, huh? Haven’t you heard of foreplay, Kitty Cat? Setting the mood?”

It was a sign of just how well these two knew him that they didn’t even flinch over the sexual comments. Catarina rolled her eyes at him and then shrugged one shoulder. “Why play the games when I can just go for what I want?”

“I pity your partners,” Magnus called out, low and dry. He’d made his way to the bar while the two shared their greeting, taking the time to go make drinks by hand instead of just snapping them up to allow them time for their greetings.

Catarina shot a smirk his way. “I’ve never had any complaints.”

“Who’d be dumb enough to complain at having a gorgeous beauty like you in their bed?” Tony asked. The tone was easy, a toss between casual and fake leering that drew out the laugh he knew it would get from Catarina. The two had always laughed easily together. Magnus used to joke that it was Tony’s superpower; according to him, no one else got her to laugh near as much as Tony did.

It also served to break up the last bit of that weird tension that had snapped into Tony. When Catarina gestured him forward to the couch, Tony only hesitated for a second before going. _I can trust her. This is just my Zia. I can trust her_. Those words played on repeat in Tony’s head. They were the only thing that allowed him to not only go take a seat with her but to also follow her direction when she gently asked him “Can you lift your shirt? Magnus told me what you allowed him to, but I’d like to get a look at things before I use my magic.”

Lifting up his shirt wasn’t easy. Tony knew he could trust these two with anything – with his emotions, his heart, his life, his _everything_. This? This shouldn’t be anything. Yet even as he took hold of the hem of his shirt, there was a tremble to his fingers that gave him away. Tony had to grit his teeth and swear at himself just to get his hands to begin to move up.

Neither of his family members commented on the fact that any one of them could’ve magicked his clothes away – even Tony. They let him do it at his own pace and in his own time.

Still, nothing could stop their reactions at the sight that greeted them. Tony heard the sharp intakes of breath, the low swearing from Magnus in a language that was dead and lost, and the faint “ _Oh_ ” from Catarina that was full of sorrow. Tony clenched his hands in his shirt for a breath, and then lowered both shirt and hands down to his lap and just let them look.

Some bruises and cuts were still healing from his fight with Obadiah. Tony had already noticed that his injuries healed slower with the arc reactor in – he’d grown used to that, really. Enough so that he didn’t think about how they’d react to those marks. He’d expected their reaction to be to the arc reactor and the massive mess of scar tissue that surrounded it.

Despite Yinsen’s best effort, there hadn’t been much that he could do to prevent Tony’s chest from being a mess. Thick, ropey scars went around the arc reactor and branched out into tiny spiderwebbed bits, one of which reached to his left nipple, cutting through the areola. That had been for one particularly nasty piece of shrapnel that had gone under the skin and in muscle but hadn’t gone deeper. Yinsen had cut it out, and he’d managed to not have to sacrifice Tony’s nipple, but the sensation in it was gone. Tony had no more feeling there. A fact which bothered him a lot, because he’d always been a bit sensitive, and he’d had fun with that with his bed partners.

When Tony finally dared to look up, he couldn’t bring himself to look at Magnus. Didn’t want to see the pain he knew would be in his father figure’s eyes. But he looked at Catarina – his strong, steady aunt, who’d worked in hospitals, who’d seen countless horrors. There was sorrow in her dark eyes. Tony had expected to see that. But there was a steadiness to her that Tony could grip onto and use to keep his own self stable.

“How deep does it go?” Catarina asked him.

Tony’s throat felt dry when he tried to speak. His hands tightened in his shirt for one second. Then he drew himself up, forced his shoulders back no matter how much they wanted to curl in and force his body to hide this glaring weakness from sight. “Pretty deep.” In his effort to keep his feelings from showing through, the tone of Tony’s voice turned to something that was a cross between flippant and scientific. It was the voice Rhodey had always called his _scientist voice_. Tony’s own personal way of trying to keep detached. “Yinsen had to do some tricky work with my sternum and a few ribs just to make things fit. Mostly it works out. I’ve got a bit of diminished lung capacity, and I’m quickly learning that cold metal is a real _bitch_ , but it’s preferable to having tiny pieces of metal embedded in my heart.”

Catarina nodded like she’d expected something like that. Knowing her, she probably had just from hearing Magnus talk about it. “Can you hold the shrapnel in place with your magic?”

“Not well,” Tony admitted. “It takes a lot of concentration to keep it in place and not cause damage to something around it.” Not to mention, it _hurt_. Like grabbing hold of that shrapnel made Tony hyperaware of its presence inside his body and the damage that they were almost constantly causing. According to Yinsen, the arc reactor helped to keep the shrapnel in place, but it didn’t stop it from moving at all. Anytime Tony took a blow too close to the chest, anytime he coughed, or if there was a small fluctuation in the power that held them there, they could move and nick the veins, which opened up a whole new set of risks and dangers.

Nodding again, Catarina watched him for a moment, a thoughtful look on her face. Then she lifted one hand up between them and held it there, palm out, one eyebrow lifting. “May I?”

Though there was a slight hitch in his chest that said _maybe we should wait_ , Tony still nodded at her. It wasn’t the first time that Catarina had used her magic on Tony. It wasn’t even the first time she’d used it to heal him. He’d felt her magic in him so many times before, and it’d always brought him a sense of peace in the past. Like the feel of being under a warm quilt while lying on the chaise in Magnus’ bedroom – peace, comfort, and safety. He had no reason to believe this time would be any different.

He was _so wrong_.

Everything happened in spurts of slowed-down horror and yet, all in the blink of an eye. Magic crackled around Catarina’s palm just seconds before she touched his chest, palm flat on his right breast. The feel of it had Tony jumping – the feel of her being close to the arc reactor made him tense. But then her thumb and her magic actually touched the arc reactor itself, and the panic attack swallowed Tony whole.

Everything in Tony’s world narrowed down to that hand coming way too close to the most vulnerable part of him. His ears were ringing, and his throat had gone dry, while his chest pounded out a call of _danger, threat, danger!_ that had Tony reacting instinctively before he’d even realized what he was going to do. He didn’t feel his body jerk back, didn’t hear his own hoarse _“NO!”_ while he scrambled backward. The room around him was fading, too hot, too dark, and he was being _touched_ , he didn’t want to be touched, not _there_ , not ever again! They weren’t going to touch it! They weren’t going to touch _him_!

Tony’s back was pressed against something hard. In his hand he held a ball of pure power, ready to unleash it against whoever dared come up to him. Whatever was going on, he wasn’t warded anymore, and he was going to damn well make them pay for what they’d done, what they thought they could still do. Tony wasn’t weak anymore. He wouldn’t let them hurt him again!

Something exploded nearby as Tony’s magic surged under his skin and through the air around him.

The haze of _fearpainnopleasestop!_ gripped at Tony until his chest was heaving with the effort to draw in a breath. Tony heard movement and opened eyes he hadn’t realized he’d closed, ready to attack, to defend himself. Only to find that there was no enemy at all.

It took his brain a moment to realize what was going on. To understand what he was seeing compared to what he was _feeling_. His eyes took in the room around him in quick, jerky sweeps, registering the familiar room, the furniture he’d sprawled on countless times, the bay of windows with their view out on the water. _Home_. This was _home_. Tony knew it, he could _see_ it, and yet the fear didn’t go away. It didn’t _stop_. Tony’s heart was pounding, and his magic ached to be free. He felt like he was standing in a battlefield instead of in the safety of his own home. _Or in a small room in the back of the cave, where there were buckets, and water, and tools, and no, NO, he wasn’t going in there again, couldn’t handle going in there again…!_

Movement had Tony’s attention snapping towards the two people who were nearby. One of them had moved back, out of the way, but the other one was slowly starting to come towards him, hands held out peacefully on either side of him. Magnus showed no fear whatsoever as he made his way towards Tony. “Anthony, sweetheart, look at me. Focus right here on me. Wherever your brain thinks you are right now, you’re not there, do you hear me? You’re here with me, with Magnus.”

“I know.” The words punched their way out of Tony with enough force to make him wince. “I… I’m home. I’m _home_.”

Magnus nodded and kept coming forward. “That’s right, sweet boy. You’re home. You’re safe.”

He didn’t _feel_ safe. Tony pressed back against the wall as he felt his magic trembling along his skin. Somehow, Tony drew the power out of the energy blast he held ready, yet he couldn’t make it go completely away. Even though he was looking right at Magnus, watching him, and even though Tony’s brain knew that he was safe, the rest of it wasn’t _going away_. It wasn’t stopping. Tony drew his arms in and wrapped them around his waist in an effort to keep it in check. Like that, he could feel his body heaving, the adrenaline and fear making him tremble.

Wide, terrified eyes locked on Magnus – the only safe harbor in all of this. “ _Babbo._ It won’t… it won’t stop…” Tony’s hands clenched tighter on his own sides. Why wouldn’t it stop? He knew he was here! He knew he was at home, with Magnus and Catarina right there, and nothing was going to happen. So why couldn’t he shut off the terror? Why did he still want to curl himself in and protect his chest while simultaneously run far, far away?

He saw something in Magnus soften. There was a brief pain in the tightening of his eyes, the way his blink lasted just a few seconds too long like he was closing his eyes to gather himself. Then he opened them once more, and that was a face Tony knew well. It was the face Magnus put on after Tony’s nightmares, or when he was sick or hurt. It was the one he wore that made Tony once more feel like a small child who had complete and utter faith in this one adult in his life.

“Oh my sweet, darling boy,” Magnus murmured.

There was no way for Tony to stop the flinch when Magnus reached out for him, but when the hand stopped, when Magnus waited patiently, Tony nodded at him. He couldn’t help how his body reacted, yet he also couldn’t help craving the comforting touch. A touch that he’d once laid on his cot in those caves and prayed and _prayed_ for.

It was hard not to jerk away when Magnus first drew him into a hug. Magnus didn’t seem to care that Tony was as stiff as a board in his arms. Nor did he seem to care that Tony hadn’t let go of himself to hug the older warlock back. No, Magnus just drew him in so that Tony was fully up against him, and he held him. “You’re going to be all right, Anthony. It’s a flashback. An emotional flashback.” Magnus pressed a kiss against Tony’s hair, then nuzzled in there. “I know it’s terrifying, but it’ll pass. Those feelings will pass.”

“I want it to _stop_.” Tony’s voice was a low, hoarse croak. He dropped his head down until he could press his forehead against Magnus’ shoulder.

“You can’t just will your way out of feeling like this, Anthony. Our minds and our emotions don’t work like that.”

Tony let out a ragged, shaky breath. “ _Stupid_.”

“It’s not stupid,” Magnus scolded him. “And neither are you. Now, take a deep breath, and bring your focus to me. We’ve worked our way through panic attacks and flashbacks before. This isn’t unfamiliar territory for us.” One of the arms holding Tony moved just enough that Magnus could press his palm flat between Tony’s shoulder blades. It sat there for a moment, a comforting and steady pressure, the skin on skin contact answering a need inside of Tony that he’d been ignoring for so long he didn’t even notice it anymore until just now as it began to ease. “That’s right. Breathe for me, _piccolino._ Match your breaths to mine.”

That was easier said than done. Tony gripped so tightly to his sides he was sure he was bruising them, and he pressed in even harder against Magnus’ shoulder, yet he did his best to try and match his breathing up to Magnus’. It wasn’t easy. The hand on his back helped. It stayed flat and steady, a firm touch that fell and rose with each breath Tony took.

Eventually, Tony could feel his breathing start to slow, though the panic hadn’t quite gone yet. His nerves and magic were still skittering all over the place like they were just waiting for the opportunity to lash out again. He’d felt like this so many times in those caves. Felt his magic trying to push against the bonds that restrained it. Felt his emotions screaming at him to run, to hide, to do anything to get away from what he was going through. There, it’d been almost normal, and it’d _made sense_. It didn’t make sense _here_.

Music began to filter through the pounding of Tony’s heartbeat in his ears. A bit of focus, and he recognized the sound of Celtic flutes. JARVIS had put on Tony’s panic playlist, bless him. It was a playlist made up of all sorts of random music types – things that it was highly unlikely Tony would’ve heard in any of the places that caused him to have these flashbacks.

The music helped. Tony’s breathing slowed a bit more. He felt less like his heart was going to burst its way out of his chest.

Magnus recognized it, and he moved on to the next step of their usual calm-down plans.

There was always a sense of presence around Magnus – his magic, saturating the very air around him. If he didn’t hide it, it was easy for people to feel what he was, and that he was _strong_. To Tony, that presence had been a longtime comfort, and one he could recognize even in his sleep. He felt it now, pressed up against him, and he felt it as Magnus let it expand a little. Let his magic grow and brush against Tony’s skin in a conscious touch.

The first brush of it made Tony flinch, almost as hard as he had when Catarina had done it. But… this was different. This wasn’t just any magic. This was Magnus, and Magnus was _safe_. Tony knew that. He knew it, and he wasn’t going to let these bastards ruin it for him.

When Magnus pushed out with his magic, letting it actually brush against Tony’s skin, the younger warlock shuddered, causing the magic to freeze. Tony answered that in the only way he could. He pushed in impossibly closer and let go of some of the control he was gripping at himself with. As tightly as his hands were holding his sides, he’d been holding back his power as well, trying to keep it from lashing out all around him.

He didn’t have to do that now.

Tony let go of himself both physically and magically. As his arms slowly wrapped around Magnus, his magic began to spark and crackle along his skin once more.

Magnus didn’t miss a beat. He kept his hold on Tony and wrapped them up both in protective shields that kept any fallout in there with them. And that? That did more for Tony than anything else. All at once the tension fell out of Tony’s body. It was a response conditioned into him from a lifetime of finding protection right here, just like this.

“That’s it,” Magnus praised him. “There’s my darling little dragon. “

Magic ran over Tony’s body, healing the surface hurts, taking away the bruises and cuts that had been etched into his skin, yet avoiding the arc reactor entirely.

There was no telling how long the two of them stood there. Magnus murmured softly to him almost the entire time, soothing words and reassurances in Italian, the warmth and _love_ in them chasing away the last of Tony’s shadows.

Eventually Tony found the strength within himself to draw back and stand up without wobbling. Magnus kept one hand on Tony’s hip, while his other came up to cup Tony’s cheek. “Better?”

“Better,” Tony echoed. He gave a small, shaky smile, tinged with a bit of embarrassment. “Thanks.”

“For you, _piccolino_? Always.”

* * *

Twenty minutes later the trio was seated together in Tony’s kitchen. He had a formal dining room, but his preference was the smaller table here in the kitchen if he was eating alone or with family. The table was just a little wooden booth tucked into the corner near the windows. The bench seat was shaped like a U, and the three of them each took their own sides. Tony and Magnus sat across from one another, near the ends of the bench, and Catarina sat in the curve of the U. On the table in front of them was a stack of pizza boxes they’d already dug into.

So far, they’d held back the conversation that needed to happen, giving Tony time to relax, to change into something comfortable and easy to wear and to get a drink or two in him to steady himself.

There was no more putting it off, though. Tony tried not to sigh. He really didn’t want to do this. But ignoring it wasn’t going to make it go away. After a moment debating the words he might need for this, Tony gave a mental shrug and popped the last bit of his pizza slice in his mouth. Then he picked up his glass and sat back in his seat while he chewed. “So,” he said around his mouthful of food. “That was a pretty epic shitshow.”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Magnus scolded instantly.

Tony rolled his eyes while making a show of chewing with his mouth closed. Beside him, he heard Catarina snort at them. She was always amused by the father-son dynamic between them. “You two never get any less ridiculous.”

“Thank you, my dear.”

Tony swallowed down his food before he spoke, drawing them back on target. “I knew getting looked at wasn’t going to be easy, but I honestly didn’t expect… _that_.”

“I did,” Catarina said, surprising him. She leaned forward as the boys looked to her, elbows coming to rest on the table. One arm stayed up so that her glass of bourbon was held in front of her face. Though Tony preferred her without her glamour on, he had to admit she was beautiful like this. Her dark skin seemed to suit her almost as much as her blue skin did. In either form, Tony found her beautiful. He always had. Even when she got that look in her eyes that was there now – the one that was serious, a bit detached, and slightly calculating. A look that said she was studying and piecing together a puzzle.

“Care to explain?” Magnus asked her.

Catarina took a sip from her glass first, visibly taking a moment to put her words together. “I sensed the energy for your light the instant I was in the house. When you came closer, it only grew stronger. There’s a natural energy there inside your chest light, but also a magical one. Which makes sense, considering you’re the one that made it, and you’ve always had a knack for building magical items.”

“But I didn’t have access to my magic there,” Tony pointed out. His eyes darted over to Magnus and then back to Catarina. He’d told them that part, hadn’t he? If he’d had his magic, there was no way Tony would’ve stayed there as long as he had.

Smiling to reassure him, Catarina nodded. “Very true. But you know how wards work, and the general idea behind magical shackles. All those did was bind your magic inside you. We’ve told you before, Tony, your magic is _you_. It’s a part of your very being like your blood, or your skin. Even wards can’t take that away. All it does it trap it down inside you so that you can’t actually access it. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a part of everything you do. When you made your light…”

“Arc reactor,” Tony corrected her.

“…you used science, but you also put _yourself_ into it, and your sense of self will always carry magic with it. You shaped the metal that created this. You formed the power at its core. And then, you literally put it _inside_ yourself. You connected those magnets and that power to your body in the most intimate way possible.”

Realization was dawning on Magnus’ face. “It was inside you, the same as your magic was. When you put it in there, you gave the two access to one another, and your magic undoubtedly reached out to see what this foreign thing was that was inside of you.”

Now it was Tony’s turn to start to understand. He found himself lowering his drink, eyes going off into the distance as his mind began to piece together everything. If what they were saying was right – the wards had trapped Tony’s magic, but magic existed as a part of him, which meant it was still inside of him when he inserted the arc reactor. Once it was inside of him, Tony’s magic was free to reach out to it, to touch it and shape it even more, connecting the two until the arc reactor was just as much a part of Tony as anything else.

“Okay,” Tony said slowly, his mind still jumping this way and that, trying to make everything match. “I get what you’re saying about the arc reactor… I think. But, what does that have to do with what happened back there?”

This time the smile that Catarina gave him was softer; a gentle one that only came out with family. “Think about it, Tony. Your arc reactor is a part of you now. Not only that, but it’s the single most vulnerable part of you. Of _course_ you reacted to someone touching it. Especially when someone was touching it with their magic. You and your magic reacted defensively and, combined with your trauma, it’s no wonder all of that sent you into a flashback.”

No matter how casually she said it, it didn’t take away from the embarrassment Tony felt, or the shame at being that _weak_.

As if he could sense how Tony’s thoughts had shifted – which was entirely too likely, and something that Tony had entertained himself thinking about over the years – Magnus reached over and flicked a finger out against Tony’s hand, making him swear and draw his hand back. Magnus grinned at him. His eyes, however, were sharp, and there was a warning in his tone. “Knock it off. There’s nothing wrong with how you reacted back there.”

Tony glossed right over that. No point in arguing over something they’d never agree on. Instead, he paid attention to the important part of this. “Does that mean it’s something that’ll happen each time someone tries to touch this?” He brought his free hand up, brushing it over the arc reactor through his shirt.

His question got him a shrug from Catarina. “Who knows? I imagine that time and some careful exposure therapy might be able to help. In some cases, I’d recommend sedation, but right now I think going to sleep and waking up to body modifications might not be the best idea.” The words were blunt, yet they were said with softness and understanding that was like the warm comfort of a hand squeezing his.

Maybe that was why Tony found himself saying the words that flashed through his mind. Eyes dropping down, he shrugged one shoulder in a gesture that was more like a jerk. “Not like they sedated me last time.”

The silence that fell over the room was almost deafening. Tony could feel it – feel their shock without even having to look up to see it. “You… you were _awake_?” Catarina asked, horrified.

Tony didn’t say anything, and that was answer enough. He focused instead down on his glass, trying to ignore the tension that was thickening the air around them. After a long, painful pause, he forced himself to speak and move past the moment. “I guess this means that, for now, the arc reactor is staying where it is,” he said, trying to drag them back on topic.

There was a short pause where Tony wasn’t quite sure that they were going to let him get away with it. Then, just when it felt like the air was going to start choking him, he heard Magnus sigh. His voice was surprisingly calm when he spoke. “For now. We can work on getting you comfortable enough for us to see what we can do. Perhaps a potion or two to help keep you calm, and the right kind of setting. If we’re at the loft, maybe even call your brother to be there with you, we might be able to make a relaxed enough atmosphere.”

The idea definitely had merit. With Magus there, and Catarina doing the magic, and Raphael at his side, plus some potions to help keep Tony calm, he might be able to let someone near his arc reactor without freaking out. Maybe.

It was something to think about – later. Definitely later.

For now, Tony shamelessly latched onto the easy opportunity for a subject change, and he flashed the two of them a grin. “Speaking of Rafiki, why didn’t my catch-up session include anything about his little boyfriend?”

Catarina lit up almost instantly. Her eyebrows shot up, and her eyes warmed as they flashed over to Magnus. “Raphael has a boyfriend? Since when? Why didn’t I know about this?”

“ _I_ don’t even know about this,” Magnus said, his own eyebrows rising. He clearly wasn’t as happy about the subject change as Catarina seemed to be, and the brief, searching look he gave Tony made that clear. But a second later it washed away, and Tony knew he’d escaped that topic, at least for now, Magnus taking up the topic change and running with it. “What do you mean, our Raphael is dating someone? And he’s keeping it from _me_?”

A small, delighted smile curved Tony’s lips. “I don’t know if they’re actually dating or not, but I mean, it’s pretty clear he _wants_ to. How did you _not_ see it, _babbo_?”

Magnus blinked a few times at him. Then recognition lit his features. “Wait a second – are you referring to _Sherwin_?”

“Tiny little baby vamp?” At Magnus’ impatient nod, Tony let out a laugh. “Oh yeah.”

“I knew they were working their way there, but I didn’t know they were already together.”

“They might not be,” Tony said, shrugging. “But, I’d be surprised. I mean, did you see the way Rafi looked at him? How he tried to keep him close? It’s almost as bad as the Ken Doll and his Gingersnap, and honestly, those two make me want to vomit.”

“Why did I get two children so allergic to romance?” Magnus bemoaned to Catarina, leaning towards her with a dramatic slump that only had her snorting and shoving him away.

Tony lifted a finger and pointed it at Magnus. “Hey! I’m not allergic to romance. I’m all for those two being happy together! Let blondie have his happily ever after, I don’t care.”

“Then what about them bothers you?”

“Really?” Arching one eyebrow, Tony lowered his hand and gave Magnus his driest look. Was Magnus really asking him that? After the stories he’d told Tony, the way he’d talked about those two as individuals – what he liked about them, what irritated him, little things that made him want to smack them in protection of the man he loved. While Magnus might not have come right out and said it in so many words, Tony had a lifetime of learning to read between the lines with Magnus. Picking out the truth underneath the scraps he was willing to ‘burden’ his kid with. Magnus never _lied_ to Tony. That just wasn’t who he was. But he did try and shelter him from some things. Especially problems he had with others.

Chuckling, Catarina nudged Magnus again, getting him back towards his portion of the seat, though her eyes stayed on Tony. “I take it Magnus gave you the rundown on what happened while you were gone.”

“JARVIS talked to Rafi, too,” Tony said. He saw Magnus’ eyes go wide with surprise. Chuckling, Tony shook his head. “What? Come on, Maggie, you know how much I love gossip. He was just catching JARVIS an me up on all the good stuff we missed. I read through some of the conversation transcripts this morning after JARVIS sent them to me.” Not to mention a few other things that JARVIS had sent his way this past week that Tony had been back – namely, the things that the AI had picked up on his own. Tony knew that Magnus often forgot about just how much JARVIS was capable of. He likely hadn’t thought about how close of a tab Tony and JARVIS kept on him through his Starkphone.

What Tony had found out was that, yes, this group of people had grown close in an exceptionally short amount of time. He’d found out about some of the fights, and some of the hell that they’d lived through. They all cared about each other, but there were some disturbing patterns that Tony wasn’t all that fond of. Like the fact that no one ever seemed to think anything of barging into Magnus’ home to demand things from him. Or how much danger they put him in when they did.

Everything that Tony put together from what he’d heard from JARVIS, Magnus, and Raphael, all of it told him that these were good people, but that they were also some strong personalities. Some of which would bear watching. There was no way Tony was going to let people use Magnus. Not for _anything_. And by extension, that meant he wouldn’t let them use Alec, either. Because Magnus clearly loved him. So, whether he realized it or not, the Head of the New York Institute was now under Tony Stark’s protection, and that was a powerful thing.

Magnus sighed heavily, dramatically, drawing Tony out of his thoughts. His expression was as fond as it was exasperated. “How I feel about Chase shouldn’t affect your opinions in the slightest. And Clary and I have no problems with one another.”

Yeah, well, Magnus might not, but Tony knew that Raphael _did_. And for all that Raphael could be a dramatic son of a bitch sometimes – a trait Tony liked to tease him that he got from their father – he was smart, a damn good leader, and good at reading people. Magnus… Magnus was good at it too, but he had a sort of blind spot when it came to people he cared about or people he’d known when they were kids. Tony was evidence of that.

Tony said none of that out loud, of course. He just smirked at Magnus and asked him “You do realize they’re not here to hear you getting their names wrong, right?”

Laughter sounded around the table while Magnus playfully scowled at him.

Comfort and ease wrapped around the trio while they enjoyed the rest of their lunch. No one brought up the earlier events in the living room. That was something that Tony knew the two adults would talk about when he wasn’t around; it didn’t offend him, that was just how they were. No matter how old he got, something told Tony that he’d never be able to get these two to stop trying to take care of him like he was a kid.

In his private moments, he admitted to himself that he hoped they never would.


	8. Chapter 8

After lunch was done with, Catarina went back home with the promise of doing some research and getting back to them, and Magnus and Tony decided that they’d be best spent heading home, too. To Tony’s surprise, there was quite a bit of stuff that Magnus insisted they bring back with him. Suit bits, some tools, and things of the like. At Tony’s curious look, Magnus laughed and patted his cheek. “I know you far too well, my sweet little dragon. You would never be satisfied for any extended period of time without something to work on. It’ll be simple to make a room next to yours for you to work in. While it won’t be as grand as this one, it should do well enough for smaller projects.”

It was kind of embarrassing just how much Tony found himself lighting up at that. But since no one was there to see it, he didn’t worry about it, nor did he try to curb his reaction. He just threw himself at Magnus for a quick hug that made the older man laugh. Then Tony was breaking away and gathering up everything he’d need to bring over with him, not just from this workshop but from some of the private stores at SI that he knew no one would be going in, so they wouldn’t notice what was missing.

When they finally portaled back to the loft, Magnus took care of making the room next to Tony’s, just like he’d promised, and Tony lost himself for the next few hours in setting things up just the way he wanted. The room was pretty decently sized despite Magnus’ warnings otherwise. The guest hallway, where Tony’s room and the extra guest room had always been located, usually only had a bathroom between the two guestrooms. Magnus hadn’t hesitated at all to wipe out the spare guest room and turn it into Tony’s workshop. While not big enough for huge projects, it was definitely large enough for Tony to do some good work inside of it.

Tony was a little giddy when he realized that he could set this workspace up the way he really wanted to.

There was no risk of anyone coming in here that wasn’t allowed to be in here. His wards and Magnus’ would guarantee that. There was no risk of someone wanting a tour of his house or getting suspicious of one warded room they weren’t allowed near. Not even Magnus would come in here without Tony’s permission. That meant Tony could really, truly make this _his_ space without fear of who might see or what could happen.

Oh, it was _amazing_!

The very first thing Tony did was hook JARVIS up to both Tony’s new workshop and his bedroom. Magnus had already given permission for that, and Tony wasn’t going to wait any longer to get his AI in there. Being without him was hard. Once Tony had the cameras, microphones, speakers, projectors, and sensors all installed, he felt himself start to relax. “You up, J?”

The usual reply came only a second later. “For you, Sir? Always.”

Tony couldn’t help his grin. “All right then, buddy. Let’s say we get this room ready, huh? Time for Daddy to do some shopping.”

Rubbing his hands together, Tony reached down inside for his magic, and he got to work.

First came the tables. Two big ones to go up against the walls, with shelves above them to hold plenty of things, and two long ones for the middle of the room. Because this was meant to be a smaller, more personal shop, Tony didn’t need a whole lot of freestanding machinery. If he needed to use any of his larger tools or equipment, the Malibu workshop was just a portal away.

This shop would be for more private projects, and for smaller items. Things that he could do with his hands and a few tools. Things like the repulsors in his gloves, or the wiring in random parts of the suit, or working on the helmet. Plus, some of the new Starkphone ideas he had, or maybe toying with little hints of ideas that he was beginning to form about the new direction to take SI. Things dealing with _improving_ the world instead of helping to destroy it.

Two rolling tool carts were added, plus some of the tools that Tony and Magnus had brought back. Those ones were put on the table tops, creating personal workstations. Clamps, magnifying glasses, soldering irons, and other things like that.

Hands on his hips, Tony looked around. “All right. Tools, done. Now for the rest of it.”

What came in next were all the things that Tony kept so carefully hidden even inside his own home. Against the far right wall by the window, he set up an older two-tiered wooden table. The taller half of the table had rows upon rows of drawers underneath it. An apothecary table, as Tony had heard Magnus call it before, all the little drawers made to hold various ingredients inside of them. Jars were called up from Tony’s private stores and set out along the back edge of the tablet. He also made sure to add his tools as well, plus his mortar and pestles, and his ritual bowls.

There were a lot of people in Tony’s life who would be stunned at the idea of him owning even half of those things, let alone knowing how to use them. Even Rhodey, one of the only mundanes in Tony’s life to know what Tony was, had a hard time believing it when he first saw Tony mixing a potion. “I’ve got a hard enough time picturing you doing magic, man,” Rhodey had told him. “But, spells, potions? You’re all about _science_. How the hell do you make these things mix?”

Tony had just shrugged at him while he’d continued to mix the potion. “It’s all science, in its own way. Magic follows the rules just like anything else. Spells and potions are just complex formulas. You do them right, follow the formula, and you get the desired result. Do it wrong…” He’d shrugged, then, and grinned, thinking of the many things he’d blown up in his training.

While Rhodey hadn’t completely understood, he’d at least gotten the gist of what Tony was saying. Tony didn’t know how to explain it any better. To him, building a spell was like building anything else. It took time, patience, the right equipment, the proper tools, and a little bit of genius and ingenuity. Potions were a bit more like chemistry, and while Tony was decent at that, he wasn’t great – but spells? Wards, curses, the creation of magical items, _those_ were where Tony excelled.

JARVIS’s voice drew Tony out of his thoughts and back into the present moment. “Perhaps you might bring your books over as well, Sir. If you remove the doors from the previous closet space, I believe you’ll find it adequate enough to hold your personal books.”

Tony spun until he found the closet space that JARVIS was talking about. Sure enough, there was a door against the wall, not far from the entrance to the bathroom, and Tony grinned. “Smart thinking, J. Knowing Maggie, the closet has to be a pretty good size.” There was no way Magnus would put a small closet in any room. Sure enough, when Tony opened the door, he found plenty of space in there. A grin stretched wide over his lips. “Oh yeah, this’ll do just fine. We just need to change things to better shelves…” A wave and a snap took care of that. “Perfect!”

There was more than enough shelf space to hold the books that Tony called over. In no time, he had at least half of them filled and was fighting the desire to immediately go out and pick up a few more to add in here. He’d held himself back time and time again from getting certain books because he knew he had no real safe place for them.

Now that the room was properly set up, it came for the final portion of things. The one that would take the most energy. Tony needed to set up his own warding.

He wasn’t going to touch the warding that was kept around the loft or the ones that Magnus had set up in any of the rooms. No, what he needed to do was set up personal warding on just _this_ room, to make sure no one came in who wasn’t supposed to, and that nothing got in or out that Tony didn’t intend. There would need to be silencing spells to keep any noise he made from disturbing anyone else, especially if he used tools, plus protection spells that would make sure no spells or _accidents_ could get out and hurt anyone else. There were also the standard wards that would help contain Tony’s magic in this space and would keep anyone else’s magic out.

“All right, buddy, you know the drill,” Tony said. He moved towards the middle of the room and folded himself down to sit on the floor. One hand came up, absently rubbing over the arc reactor while he went. “If I break the half-hour mark, give Maggie a ring and have him come check on me.”

“Of course, Sir.”

Legs crossed, eyes closed, Tony took a deep breath and got to work.

Making wards was easy for him. Ever since he’d made his first ward on his own when he was a kid – when he’d been supposed to be learning shields and had broken the rules by practicing at home – he’d never really had a problem with them. They were giant puzzles, in a way. Magnus had once described them as weaving, threading together the different strips of magic, creating patterns in the shapes of sigils. To Tony, some wards were like a circuit board, with various wires laid out from one to the other. Others were almost like… like complex mathematical algorithms. Numbers and codes and things that, to Tony, were as easy as breathing.

Catarina had told him once that everyone perceives magic differently. That they all see it in ways that they can best relate to. For Tony, that happened to be in numbers, and in the various forms of his technology.

Raphael liked to call him an _annoying little techno-mage._

Whatever it was, Tony didn’t worry too much about it anymore. He wasn’t bothered to know that he did things differently than others. That had always been the case for him anyway. Why should his magical skills be any different?

It only took about ten minutes for Tony to get all the proper warding up and in place. Once it was done, Tony rose to his feet and took a look around, hands rubbing together. “What do you think, Jarv? We got everything in here?”

“It would appear so, Sir. Anything that you miss I’m sure you can get at a later date.”

“Perfect! Now, let’s break it all in.”

“I’m sure your father would prefer you refrain from breaking anything.”

The dry words had Tony’s grin flashing. It was open and honest – a lot more real and relaxed than he’d been since he came back. “What _babbo_ doesn’t know won’t hurt him!”

With a laugh from Tony, and a sound from JARVIS that the AI would deny was a sigh, Tony spun towards the table on his left, ideas already spinning through his mind. He’d wanted to work on a new tracking device recently. The idea had spawned from his recent troubles; Tony always wore a tracker of some kind when he went place, just so JARVIS at least would be able to find him if anything happened. But he didn’t have a tracker that was capable of being detected beyond magical warding. If he could find some way to get the electrical signal out past wards, maybe even make it undetectable…

The world outside faded away as Tony dropped down onto his rolling stool and reached out to active the hologram in the center of the table.

* * *

There was no telling how much time had passed when Tony finally stumbled his way out of his workshop. His time in there wasn’t anywhere near as long as he could usually go when an idea really struck him. But JARVIS had interrupted him to let him know that Magnus had ‘requested’ Tony come out and eat something – or else he was going to come in and fetch him.

Seeing as how Tony was pretty sure Magnus meant that _literally_ , he finished up what he was working on, carefully set things aside, and stumbled his way out of the room.

Of course, because JARVIS and Magnus were both _assholes_ , there was absolutely no one in the loft that Tony could see. Nor was Magnus’ magic anywhere on Tony’s radar. Tony glared at the empty space around him. “You know, as much as I approve of your tricks on everyone else, you’re not supposed to use them on _me_.”

“My most sincere apologies, Sir,” JARVIS said, speaking from the phone in Tony’s pocket. “However, I believe you’ll find I didn’t actually lie to you. _Nonno_ sent me a message asking me to request you come out for food, and that I warn you that, should you refuse, he would return home to escort you out of there.”

Damn devious little bastards. It was a conspiracy against Tony working in the workshop. One that had been around since JARVIS had first been invented. Magnus had tried to use Dum-E early on, but, well, that was one bot that had a bit of special programming. A spy he definitely was not. Honestly, he was rarely the type of helper that Tony actually needed. He had a tendency to drop things, or spill them, or douse them in fire retardant.

A small smirk curved Tony’s lips. Dum-E might be a special child, but he was _their_ special child. And he was the reason Tony was actually alive right at the moment. That earned him a whole lot of leeway for his quirks. Besides, Tony loved the ridiculous thing, quirks and all.

“Perhaps while you’re out here, you might wish to take this moment to eat something?” JARVIS suggested.

His voice snapped Tony out of his thoughts and back to the present moment. Tony opened his mouth to respond with some form of a quip, something to point out just how much of a _brat_ JARVIS is, when the wards alerted him to someone coming down the hallway. There was only enough time for Tony to turn curiously to see who might knock. A second later, the doors were flung open, and Tony watched with horror as Jace and Clary came barging in with a limp and bloody Alec being dragged between them.

“Where’s Magnus?” Jace demanded, not even sparing a glance for Tony as he dragged his parabatai to the couch.

Tony was already moving, adrenaline kicking in and his training taking over. He’d spent enough time learning about healing and working with both Catarina and Magnus to know how to respond in moments like this. The past few months had only helped Tony’s rapid response time. Traumatic situations very rarely allowed for time to freak out.

A click of Tony’s fingers had a blanket going down on the couch just in time for Alec to be laid down. “He’s not here,” Tony said, moving to join them. His voice was sharp, clipped – the sound he got in business meetings when he was tired of someone’s shit and ready to get down to actual business. It was what Rhodey called his ‘don’t fuck with me’ tone. “What happened?”

“We were taking out a demon, and we got attacked by some Circle members,” Clary said. She was at Alec’s legs, trying to hold them down when he went to curl himself in. There were blood and ichor both on her, plus a few cuts and bruises she hadn’t had the time to heal. “We tried to use runes, but they don’t seem to be working. I don’t know if any venom got in there or what, but he’s not… you’ve gotta help him!”

The sight of Alec gave Tony pause when he reached the couch finally. There was so much blood all over him and everyone else, that had been visible from the instant they came in, but what had Tony freezing was the sight of the other man’s chest. Clear gashes cut through the front of his uniform and down through the skin, leaving Alec’s chest a bloody _mess_.

The flashbacks from earlier had left Tony more unsettled than normal; less easy to fight off his own demons. For one brief moment, it wasn’t Alec’s chest that Tony saw, but his own. What he must’ve looked like lying on that excuse for a hospital bed while Yinsen had knelt over him and worked tirelessly to save his life.

It was the sound of Jace snapping out “What’re you doing? _Help him_!” that had Tony jerking back into the present.

Tony dropped down to his knees beside the couch. “JARVIS, buzz Maggie, tell him to get his ass back here as quickly as he can. Make sure he knows it’s urgent. If you can’t get him, get Zia Cat over here. Gingersnap, go grab me a rag to wipe this off with so I can see what I’m working with.”

“What do you need me to do?” Jace asked.

“Hold him down.”

With a quick click of his fingers, blue magic sprang to life around Tony’s left hand. His right was reaching out, moving the bits of Alec’s shirt out of the way. Briefly, he flashed his eyes up to Alec, who didn’t even look conscious. “I’m sorry,” Tony murmured, his magic pushing over Alec’s skin, reaching down inside of him. “This is probably gonna hurt.”

With that, all of Tony’s focus went to his magic. He had to trust in Jace to hold Alec in place as Tony worked to quickly heal what he could – cuts on his hip, some of the gashes on his chest – but it was the stab wound to his right side that Tony hadn’t noticed before that was the problem. The amount of demon venom in it was…well, a lot. Far more than Tony would be able to draw out on his own. They didn’t have time to wait, though. _Alec_ didn’t have time. And like _hell_ if Tony was going to give up on him!

Tony brought his other hand up as well and _poured_ his magic down into Alec’s body. The blue light grew brighter as it spread, trying desperately to gather up all the dark energy it could feel, while also trying to draw it out without causing more damage.

The sound and feel of a portal took a portion of Tony’s attention only long enough for him to identify who it was. Once he registered it as Magnus, and _safe_ , he put all his focus back on the power he was channeling through Alec’s body.

Just seconds later a hand came down on Tony’s shoulder, and another joined his over the wounds, magic already reaching out and meshing together with Tony’s with the skill of two who had worked together many, many times. The hand on his shoulder fed Tony strength in a link that allowed their magic to join even more.

Their combined power burned away the last of the taint in Alec’s body. When Tony ran one final check, finding nothing, he felt his body slump down from the force of the sigh he let out.

The hand on his shoulder kept him upright, drawing Tony back against Magnus’ leg to brace him, though the older warlock was already leaning forward and moving his hand up towards Alec’s face. “Alexander?”

Slowly, carefully, Alec blinked clearly heavy eyes. It warmed Tony’s heart to see how Alec sought out Magnus first and foremost, and how he softened and got the dopiest grin on his face as soon as he saw him. “Mag’us. Y’r here.”

“There is nowhere else I would rather be,” Magnus told him, low and sweet and honest.

Tony closed his eyes now and let himself lean for just a moment. Long enough that he could draw in a breath and a bit more of the strength that Magnus was still feeding into him. Only for a moment, though. Then Tony was opening his eyes and pushing himself up off the floor.

Jace was already moving away from where he’d been holding Alec down, his hip sliding to take the place against Alec’s side, just a bit below Magnus. Clary was at his head, a wet towel in her hand, and she looked like she was about to start wiping Alec down herself.

The only person that looked up when Tony rose was Magnus. He flashed Tony a brief look, giving him a soft “Thank you” that had Tony nodding.

While everyone was focused on Alec – as they should be – Tony beat a quick retreat to the closest bathroom. The fact that it was the master bathroom didn’t make any real difference to him. Now that the adrenaline of trying to save someone’s life wasn’t fueling him, the earlier panic was free to creep back in, and Tony didn’t have time for it. Not when the focus should be on Alec, and whatever happened out there, whatever had caused him to get hurt.

The other two had said it was a Circle member. Tony washed his hands, trying to avoid looking at the blood, and he let his mind run over that. Magnus had said that Valentine was dead. However, he hadn’t said that all the Circle members were killed or captured, had he? The Circle wasn’t some mythical beast. Cutting off the head didn’t magically kill off the rest of it. There were still Circle members out there. People who believed in the ideals that Valentine had set out.

Was this attack just them trying to get their own back? Revenge for the death of their leader? Or was it something more?

Tony worked in a world of business and politics. He knew what a power vacuum was. He also knew how easy they were to fill. All it would take was one of the man’s zealots. Someone who truly believed in the horrifying dream that Valentine was building. One person who believed it all, and who was willing to step up, to gather the leftovers of their group around them and slink away to rebuild.

It was a lot of suppositions to make. Tony looked down at his hands, trying to calm his racing brain. Maybe this whole thing had just been revenge. That made sense, too. But whatever it was, they’d deal with it, he knew. The group out there would handle it just like they’d handled things last time. They didn’t need him coming in and messing things up. Right now, Tony had enough of his own problems that he was screwing up. He didn’t need to do the same with these people.

Tony watched the water in the slink slowly turn to pink, and then clear, and wished his other problems could be so easily washed away.

* * *

By the time Tony walked back into the living room things had been pretty well cleaned up. The sheet was gone from the couch, no blood in sight, and Alec was sitting up on the center cushion cradling a mug of what Tony was willing to bet was tea in his hands. To his right was his parabatai, trying to hover without looking like he was hovering and failing miserably at it all. Clary was on a chair nearby, watching them with a look that screamed both fondness and a hint of her own concern.

To his left was Magnus. Or, more accurately, _on_ his left. Magnus was pressed right up against him, his hand pressed against Alec’s back, his own body attempting to look casual in a relaxed pose while really Magnus looked like he was a step away from wrapping Alec up in his arms and snarling _Mine!_ at anyone dumb enough to get close.

One corner of Tony’s mouth twitched upward. Two Shadowhunters and one of the most powerful Warlocks that Tony had met, hovering over a poor guy who clearly didn’t need it and was just as clearly tolerantly amused by the whole thing.

When Alec looked up, and his eyes met Tony’s across the room, the poor guy flushed just a little in embarrassment, yet he also gave an eye-roll and the ghost of a smile as if to say _What can you do?_

Tony stopped trying to fight his grin as he made his way into the room. “Well aren’t you all just adorable?”

Everyone looked up at the sound of his voice. Tony chose to ignore it and headed straight for the small bar nearby. There wasn’t much there, but he wasn’t in the mood for a fancy drink. Squatting down, Tony dug through the cupboard, not even bothering to look over his shoulder at the others. “I’d ask how you’re doing, gorgeous, but with the squad of nursemaids around you I feel pretty confident you’re not doing too badly.” At that, Tony did finally look up, sending a wink Alec’s way. He let out a delighted laugh at the way it made Alec’s blush flare up.

Magnus gave him a fond, amused look. “He is quite gorgeous, isn’t he?”

“Can we save the flirting for later?” Jace asked impatiently. “Right now, we’ve got bigger things to focus on.”

Tony wrinkled his nose at the word _flirting_. “I wasn’t flirting. Just because I can appreciate the fact that Lightwoods seem to breed some of the most gorgeous Shadowhunters I’ve ever seen doesn’t mean that I’m going to flirt with my _patrigno_. A slut I may be, it doesn’t mean I’m a poacher.” Turning back to the drink cart, Tony shifted another bottle out of the way and then let out an “Ah!” at what he found. He was standing up a second later with a nice decanter of bourbon in his hand. “Also, blondie, you might try and untwist your panties a little, seeing as how your parabatai is alive and everything, and no one else is currently dying.” Tony turned around with a glass in one hand and decanter in the other, one eyebrow lifting as he looked to Jace. “Unless you forgot to mention something when you came busting in here.”

Clary leapt in to answer even as Jace started to open his mouth. “No one else is dying. Not that we know of, at least. But this is the first time we’ve seen any Circle members since after Valentine died. There were some in that first week that we rounded up, but we thought they were gone.”

“Or gone to ground,” Alec said. When Tony came over, tilting the decanter at him in silent question, the man looked up at him with gratitude and held up his mug, allowing Tony to pour a generous splash in there.

When no one else took Tony up on his offer, he set the decanter down on the coffee table and then dropped himself down into a nearby chair. It took a lot to hold in the groan of pleasure at just how good it felt to sit. Tony hadn’t realized how tired he was, or how much magic he’d used, until he sat down and gave his body some of the rest it needed. Absently, he rubbed a hand against his sternum, right below the light of the arc reactor – a light he didn’t realize he wasn’t hiding at the moment. “Going to ground would’ve been the smart thing,” he said. His elbow came to rest on the armrest, and he held his glass in front of his lips, taking a sip and wetting his dry throat. The burn of the alcohol felt amazing.

Magnus nodded his agreement to Tony’s words. “They lost their leader. Without someone in control, some of them might’ve run, while others definitely would’ve hidden.”

“But why come out now?” Jace asked. “If they’ve been hiding these past weeks, why come out now?”

Shrugging, Tony took another sip from his drink. “It might just be that there were a few stragglers. Diehards who’re lost without their cause, and who saw some of the Shadowhunters they consider responsible for it and decided to get some of their own back.”

“Or it could be something a bit more organized,” Alec said. There was a sigh in his voice; one that spoke of someone who was exhausted. Not that Tony could blame him. They’d just gotten done dealing with one major problem, and they’d thought it was done. The last thing he likely wanted was to start dealing with another.

But, despite his thoughts in the bathroom moments ago, Tony wasn’t sure that they were going to be dealing with another. “I don’t know.” Slouching back in his seat, he kicked both feet up until they rested on the coffee table, his body a more relaxed curve that finally took some of the pressure off his lungs. Tony gave a soft sigh of relief before he continued talking. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s every chance that Circle members are going to try and band together. Removing Valentine created a power vacuum. While that does leave people floundering, it also leaves room for someone to step in and take over.”

“He’s not wrong,” Magnus said, voice heavy. “I’ve seen it in the past. Valentine was more extreme than some leaders, but he had quite a few disciples. Plenty who would no doubt be willing to step in and take up his cause as their own.”

Grimacing, Jace looked down, his expression darkening. “Great. So, we got rid of one guy just to make room for another one?”

“If it’s any consolation, even if they have a new leader, this attack probably wasn’t because of them,” Tony offered him.

“What do you mean?” Clary asked.

The fact that she honestly looked curious prompted Tony to actually answer her. “Well, it’s been, what, weeks since Valentine’s death? Have _you guys_ managed to recover and get back to normal yet?”

“Almost,” Alec said. “But things are finally starting to settle down.”

Tony nodded his head. “And you guys didn’t lose your leader while you fought. You were the _winning_ side. I mean, sure, I imagine you had to deal with the Calve and all their bullshit, plus deal with the people you lost, but as a unit? You’re still there. Still whole. The Circle lost the war, they lost their leader, and they lost quite a few of their people. Now, granted, if someone wanted to step into the role of leader, this would be the time to do it. But even still, they’ll have their hands full with finding everyone they can, getting their people to safety, trying to salvage what’s left of Valentine’s plans while also trying to make sure to protect the people that’re left. Something like that… you’re looking at months, at least, before they’d be organized enough to even begin to think about doing anything. That’s not even counting dealing with serious personnel issues.”

Caught up in his thoughts, Tony didn’t notice the weird looks he was getting, but he did hear Clary saying “Personnel issues?”

Tony’s eyes were a bit distant while his mind raced down the very pathways he’d been trying to avoid back in the bathroom. Because of that, his voice was distant as well, making it sound colder and more detached when he answered her.

“Oh yeah. Finding out how many are left, who is still loyal, who’s willing to accept the new boss in charge. Or maybe even voting in someone new. Either way, there’s going to be people who aren’t pleased, and that means either getting rid of them or finding a way to convince them to your side. Inevitably, some are going to leave. That might even be what was going on with the ones who attacked you guys tonight.” Drawing his glass in, Tony pressed it against his bottom lip, letting the cool glass rub lightly there. “No matter what, some of them are going to leave. Either they won’t trust the new leader, or they’ll have lost faith in the cause. That means there’ll be new holes to fill, so the leader’s gonna have to spend time recruiting.”

“Rebuilding their forces,” Alec murmured.

That was exactly it. Tony hummed lowly before taking another drink. When he blinked his eyes clear of his thoughts, he found the others watching him, their expressions dark. Magnus just looked sad – old and sad. He’d seen this too many times in his lifetime.

Tony tugged on his best press smile in an effort to dispel the cloud of gloom that had fallen over them all. “What that means is that, while you might have to deal with a few rogues, you probably don’t have to worry about anything organized for at _least_ a year. Probably more. No point in stressing yourself out about it tonight. The guys who came after you, they’re gone or dead, right?” He waited only long enough for a quick nod. “Good! Then I say we order some dinner, potentially get drunk, and if we’re lucky, someone might end up without pants before the night’s out.”

The noise Jace made was almost like a squawk, and Tony was going to enjoy remembering it for the next _forever_. To Tony’s surprise, it was _Alec_ who gave him a huffy lop-sided grin and asked: “Do your evenings usually end like that?”

“Only the good ones,” Tony shot back, winking.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to finish my editing so I won't worry about it over Christmas. What that means is that you may get a few chapters today. But don't let that stop you from leaving some love at the end of each one of them ;)

No one ended up without pants that night despite Tony’s best efforts. They did, however, end up drinking far more alcohol than was probably practical. Even Tony was feeling a pretty good buzz by the time Magnus half-carried him back to his bedroom. The others had already passed out on the couch, and Magnus had taken Alec back to their bedroom first. The oldest Lightwood was probably the most drunk out of them all, and he’d been a ridiculously adorable drunk to boot.

Still, despite everyone keeping their clothes on – which set it apart from most drinking parties Tony had been a part of – they’d had a good time. Isabelle had shown up at one point, Tony wasn’t quite sure when, and someone put a movie on only for them all to talk right overtop it as they argued what their favorite mundane movie was.

The alcohol gave Tony enough of a cushion that he actually slept through the night, too, getting a whole four hours before he woke up. That might not have sounded like much to others, but it was a hell of a lot for him at the moment. He hadn’t even had any nightmares. In fact, the only reason he woke up was an idea that hit him, hard and fast, and wouldn’t let go.

It left Tony feeling rejuvenated, and a bit energetic, and he wasted no time before racing from bedroom to workshop, stopping only long enough to use the bathroom, to jot down the idea that he’d woken up with. He didn’t even stop to grab pants. JARVIS’s quick reminder was the only thing that spurred Tony into at least grabbing a shirt. Or, summoning one to himself. He didn’t pay any attention to it, aiming just to snag one of his shirts from his comfortable stash, so he ended up in a dark red shirt that read ‘I’m an engineer, to save time, let’s just assume I’m never wrong.’

“JARVIS, start two new files for me,” Tony called out as he stumbled out of the bathroom and into the workshop. “Mark four and five. I’ve got two different ideas I want to flesh out here. First, I was thinking we’d make something a bit, sleeker, less bulky in the design…”

Hours were lost as Tony and JARVIS worked their way through the basic outline of what Tony wanted to see in the Mark III design. With the use of the holotable to help him – which Tony mentally made a note that he needed to start working on improvements for it – he got quite a bit planned, as well as a lot more discarded. That was a part of the process, thought.

He didn’t really stop until someone knocked on his door.

Tony looked up with surprise at the sound. Hands deep inside the hologram of the helmet, trying to piece together what he wanted for the HUD versus what could actually _fit_ there, it was a lot easier to just use a bit of magic to open the door, a small flick of his fingers away from the hologram. He wasn’t working on anything that was dangerous or super secretive – no big parts that someone might be able to remember and steal were visible at the moment. What extra there was, JARVIS shut down the instant the door started to open, because he was amazing like that.

The very last person Tony expected to see was Alec. He’d thought for sure it would be Magnus coming to tell him to go to bed or something of the like. Yet, the Shadowhunter stood in the open doorway without coming in. He was dressed pretty simply, in just dark jeans, a black t-shirt, and what could only be called a _cardigan_. Alec looked… relaxed. A lot more relaxed than Tony had seen him be so far.

“Hey,” Alec said, a little half-smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. His eyes ran over Tony and a blush hit his cheeks at the same instant that his eyes darted up. They were very clearly looking off into space somewhere over Tony’s shoulder – not staring at him, or at the room around him.

Tony looked down at himself and was abruptly reminded that he’d raced out of bed. Meaning, he was still in boxer-briefs that were clear under the hem of his t-shirt. Not flashy, or anything, but apparently enough. Which explained the blush. Tony couldn’t help but grin as he turned his focus back to his hologram, shifting a piece down to where he wanted it to go. “Hey there, Legalos. Something I can do for you?”

The nickname drew a huff from Alec. He must’ve chosen to ignore it, though. Good plan. It wasn’t like Tony was going to give up his nicknaming habits. “Your… JARVIS must want you to take a break. I was just about to go leave to get some coffee when he let me know you were awake in here. I figured I’d come see if you wanted to join me. Everyone else is still passed out.”

Tony slanted a look towards the nearest camera. It seems that talk he’d planned on having with JARVIS was going to have to happen sooner than he’d planned. “You’re getting a bit highhanded, buttercup.”

“I have only your best interests in mind, Sir,” JARVIS said, just a tad bit defensively. The fact that he’d learned to sound _defensive_ was something that Tony took quiet pride in. Just as he took pride in JARVIS taking initiative like this. While he might not like being quite so managed, the fact that his baby boy has grown enough to do it was an amazing thing, and one he was going to be careful about curbing.

Shaking his head, Tony looked down at the hologram he still held, and he debated. Then he gave a purely mental shrug. He’d gotten most of his general ideas down. The rest of this could wait until later. Besides, coffee sounded pretty damn good at the moment. Not to mention, this might be Tony’s chance to sit down with Alec and actually talk to him without Magnus hovering over them both. Tony might get the chance to really get to know the guy and make sure he was treating Magnus _right_.

“Why not?” Tony said. He drew his hands out of the hologram. “J, save this for me, would you? Then lock things down. Put a marker on this and note that the C-5 is looking like our best bet so far. Run simulations two through seven, then compile the results into a report I can look at when I get back.”

“Of course, Sir.”

Satisfied with that, Tony nodded his head. Then gestured with one hand for Alec to follow him, leading him through the bathroom and to Tony’s bedroom. Tony headed straight for his closet once he was in there. It only took him a second to grab a pair of pants and start pulling them on. “So, what’re you doing up so early? I thought for sure you’d be passed out the longest.”

When he stepped out of the closet, still tugging his pants the rest of the way up his hips, he was amused to find that Alec was standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. His hands were in his pockets, and his eyes were once more lifted toward the ceiling in a clear effort to avoid watching Tony get dressed. _Cute_.

“I might get drunk pretty easily, but we’ve discovered I don’t really get hangovers.”

“Lucky you,” Tony teased him. Pants on, he grabbed a pair of socks and sneakers, and sat down on the edge of the bed to pull them on. Right now, he wasn’t going for the patented Tony Stark look. This was more, _lazy Tony_. Jeans, t-shirt, sneakers. “I only really get hangovers if I drink way too much straight tequila. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure my body just built up an immunity to it all.” Tony pushed up once he had his shoes and socks on. He grinned over at Alec, who wasn’t shying away from looking at him now. “I’m pretty sure if someone tested my blood, they’d find it’s mostly alcohol and coffee.”

“Yeah, because that seems healthy.”

That little bit of sass made Tony laugh. “Ooh, you’re snarkier in the morning. I like it.” There was a grin still tugging Tony’s lips when he strolled forward and curled his hands into Alec’s arms. “Just for that, I’m taking you for the good stuff. C’mon, big boy.” A wave and a snap of the hand brought a portal to life just a few feet in front of them. Tony only paused long enough to grab his jacket where it’d been thrown over the footboard, and then he was tugging Alec forward, pulling him towards the portal. To his surprise, the Shadowhunter didn’t seem to hesitate to follow. The two stepped from Tony’s bedroom…

…and stepped out into a small, discreet alleyway. Though Tony could tell that Alec was trying to look around, to figure out where they were, he didn’t give the other man time. He just tugged on his arm, already grinning as he brought him out of the alley and into the semi-busy streets.

It wasn’t hard to see when Alec began to realize where they were. The clear surprise he showed as he took in the signs around them – all written in English – and the types of people they passed was more than a little amusing. “Are we still in New York?”

“Just outside Brooklyn, actually, in Queens.” When Alec looked down at him, Tony grinned. “What?” he asked innocently. “Did you think I was taking you to some strange, foreign country for ridiculously expensive coffee?”

“Maybe not the ridiculously expensive part. More like… some tiny place no one else even knows exists, but they make _absolutely exquisite_ something-or-other.”

Tony had no doubt just who Alec was quoting there. Laughter bubbled up his throat, and he found himself almost hugging Alec’s arm, leaning in close against him without even thinking about it. Tony had always been a physical person; his recent trouble had only amplified that need while at the same time making it harder to reach for or trust, and Alec was someone who managed to make it in the category of _safe_ in Tony’s mind by way of his closeness to Magnus.

“I figured Maggie probably took you to those kinds of places already. I wanted somewhere _better_.” Catching sight of the café up the street, Tony tugged Alec along, threading them through people while he beelined for one of his absolute favorite cafes. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the places he goes, and they’re not bad. I just happen to have better taste than Maggie does.”

“Don’t let him hear you say that.”

Tony cast Alec a dry look. “Do I _look_ stupid?”

They were both grinning when they reached the corner. Tony heard the soft surprised sound that Alec made, and he knew the other man had caught sight of where they were going.

Up ahead were two stores that would never compare to anywhere else Tony went to. The two stores shared a parking lot between them, which took up the whole corner. Most businesses would’ve built on that corner, gotten themselves the most exposure, but not them. No, the owners turned that corner into their parking lot, and then built their businesses beside it, connecting the two in a way that left you feeling like you’d somehow stepped back in time the instant you entered that parking lot.

To the left was an old-fashioned looking bakery. It was a two-story building done in a sort of burnt yellow color. It had a thatch roof, though Tony knew there was something else under that – Mickey mostly liked it for the aesthetics. It went well with the dark wood framing on everything, and the old wooden shutters over the single upstairs window.

On the ground floor, the front door was to the left and was oddly shaped, sloping a little like two peaks up at the top, and it was made of wood and glass and was painted purple. A little metal lantern hung beside it on the left, as well as a sign that proclaimed this place _The Witching Flour_.

To the right of the door was a big bay window with fairy lights twinkling inside. It was ringed perfectly in planters that made it look like green bushes and bright pink flowers had just grown up from the ground and into the building. The planter rang alongside the rest of the building until they stopped at a wooden archway with an open gate that looked like it was made of wrought iron.

That gate and its matching fence ran along the curve from left to right, marking off and hiding the little space between the bakery and the stone building it shared its space with. Behind the fence was a beautiful garden area filled with herbs, flowers, and even a little stone pond. There were also tables and chairs as well as a few benches. It created a sort of natural, magical place for people to sit with their tea or food from the bakery, and books from the store next door, and just _be_ for a while.

The connecting building was just as unique, and just as old-fashioned as the Witching Flour was, only in a slightly different way. They didn’t go for the paint and wood look. Instead, the two-story building was done in stone and brick, with dark wood around the windows, though it did have the same thatch roof style, only theirs was dark instead of the light of the bakery.

Out in front of the store was a table of books on display, and a sign that read _‘Free Friends!’_ in the middle of it. Above that, a deep purple awning kept them protected from any weather changes.

Their door sat in the middle, with two large window displays on either side. On the right window were just stacks of books tilted so that passersby could see the covers. The wooden shelves they were held on kept anyone from really being able to see beyond them.

But on the left was a box window that stuck out a little further than the rest of the shop. There was a black curtain to hide the view into the shop, and the window display was done up beautifully. A black and purple dragon, roughly about the side of a large dog, was curled up on and around stacks upon stacks of books. There was so much detail in each little scale, in the horns, the leather of the wings. Even the dragon’s face was full of emotion; it was easy to see the happiness and contentment as it studied the large open book being held up in its claws.

From the front door was a long, curling piece of metal, from which a wooden sign was hung. The letters looked like they’d been scratched in and slightly burned.

_The Dragon’s Hoard_

These two stores were a unique little corner of the world for Tony. A place for him to come and relax and talk with friends that were almost always happy to see him. Though he’d told himself countless times that he wanted to bring Magnus here, that he really _should_ , he’d yet to do so despite the fact that Tony had been coming here for years now.

“I can’t believe Magnus never brought me here,” Alec said, looking the buildings over with wide eyes. “This looks…”

Tony knew what he meant. The whole place just screamed _Magnus_. He’d be perfectly at home in here. Not just because of looks, but Tony knew he’d get along so well with the people inside, too. And yet… “I’ve never brought him here.”

That admission slipped out without Tony meaning for it to. Before Alec could comment on it, Tony was tugging him forward, ducking his head a bit to try and hide the color that he could feel on his cheeks. “Come on, Robin Hood. You think the outside is great, you’re gonna love the inside.”

Tony wasn’t lying. As soon as they were in the door of the Witching Flour, Tony snuck a look up at Alec’s face and saw honest, real joy there. Not that Tony could blame him. The interior of the cafe held just as much of a fantasy feel to it as the outside had. Everything had an old, wooden, hand-carved look. Every time Tony came here he felt sort of like he’d stepped into a witches cottage out of a storybook. There were usually people seated here and there at the tables, munching on treats, or sipping from giant and rather different mugs. The cups were varying shapes, sizes, and colors. More like someone’s personal cups than the kind you’d find in a store. It was a thing here to bring in your own mug, even trade one of yours out for one of theirs, so that the mugs never stayed the same for long, and they were always unique.

There was a long, L-shaped counter, the right side of which had a huge display case with baked goods that had Tony’s mouth watering a little. At the end was another door that led out to an outdoor seating area.

Behind the counter were more displays, coffee machines, and giant boards with large chalkboards that had handwritten menus on them. This place had everything from baked goods, to small meals, to coffees and teas.

It also had a selection of people that Tony counted as some of his closest friends.

Most of the store was empty, but for a couple at the side table. But it wasn’t them that Tony had his eyes on.

The guy currently behind the counter was tall, maybe an inch or so over Alec, and had brown hair and serious green eyes. There were lines around his eyes, wrinkles that Tony teased him were from frowning so hard, but those that knew him knew they came from just how big the guy could smile. He was dressed pretty calmly in black jeans and a plain dark green t-shirt, yet he still gave off an aura that reminded Tony of, well, of Alec. Not just the whole _soldier_ part of things, either, but something _more._ Which made sense, really. Though Tony had never had it confirmed, he was pretty sure he knew the type of person this guy been before his change.

Gwaine, the only name that he went by, never spoke of his time before he’d become a vampire some unknown-hundreds of years ago. He treated it like the life he’d lived hadn’t existed. The only thing that mattered, he’d once told Tony while a bit drunk off straight plasma, was Mickey. “My life began with him, and it’ll end with him.”

The man was serious, strong, and often intimidating. People didn’t cause trouble here or anywhere in this area because they knew better than to cross Gwaine. He was _dangerous_. He was also one of the kindest, most protective and loving people Tony had ever met, and his partner Mickey had him wrapped around his finger without a single ounce of effort, a fact which Gwaine wasn’t the least bit ashamed of.

When Gwaine looked up to see who’d rung the bell, his brows were furrowed, eyes a bit suspicious like he wasn’t sure about who would be walking in their café. Then he caught sight of Tony. All at once, Tony was reminded that there were a few friends he hadn’t come hunting down once he’d gotten back. Though they’d undoubtedly seen his return on the news, this was the first time he’d come to see them. Tony took a step forward, making sure to move away from the windows despite the spells on them that he knew protected anyone from the sunlight.

Alec tensed when Gwaine planted his hands on the counter and leapt over. With vampire speed, not giving a damn about who in here might see him, Gwaine closed the distance between them and grabbed Tony. In the time it took Alec to reach for his blade at his side, Tony was already up in Gwaine’s arms, feet lifted from the ground with the strength of the hug.

Tony let out a laugh and flung his arms around Gwaine’s neck.

“You little shit,” Gwaine growled at him. He set Tony down, only to cup his face in both hands, turning it this way and that as he tried to take in every inch of him. “I missed your stupid face, you idiot. What took you so long to get here? Mick’s been stress baking every day since we saw the news you were back.”

Another laugh slipped from Tony. He didn’t try and take Gwaine’s hands away. Instead, he reached up and curled his hands over the man’s wrists, just hanging on for the simple contact. “Mickey always stress bakes. It’s what he does.”

“Don’t be an ass.” The cuff to the side of the head wasn’t unexpected. Nor was it anywhere near as hard as it could’ve been. Tony grinned unrepentantly. As expected, Gwaine just rolled his eyes, though Tony could read the softness there and the fond way that the older vampire was watching him. “Fine, you wanna be like that?” With no more warning than that, Gwaine turned his head enough to holler out “Mick! Got a present for you out here!”

“Y’ gotta holla the house down jus’ to let me know it?” a familiar voice called out, thick with the sounds of an accent that waffled between classic French and a bit of Cajun.

Just as the doors swung open, Tony broke away from Gwaine, knowing that this greeting was going to require his full attention. Beside him, he heard Alec make a low sound of surprise, and he had to resist the urge to turn and grin at him. Mickey St. Claire definitely made an impression.

The man was just a few inches shorter than his partner, but where Gwaine ran more towards the muscled side while still lean, Mickey was slender in a way that almost bordered on unhealthy. Like he’d been starved for so long his body had lost the ability to properly keep on its weight.

He also had a rather flamboyant sense of fashion. Today, he was dressed in galaxy leggings, a royal purple skirt that was knee-high on the left and almost touching the ground on the right, and to top it all off, he wore an oversized orange shirt that had the Witching Flour emblem in the center, and he’d tied it in a knot at the waist, showing the black undershirt he wore beneath it. Hair the same color of his skirt was pulled up into a messy bun that was held in place by what looked like two chopsticks.

However, Tony knew that to Alec, most likely, and to many new people who met him, what really seemed to stand out the most wasn’t Mickey’s accent, or his clothes – it was his skin. His _pink_ skin.

It wasn’t a bright, vibrant pink, or a startling magenta. More like, a pastel. Cotton candy, Mickey liked to joke. That and his purple hair and eyes were the warlock marks he rarely ever hid. Unlike most warlocks that Tony had met, or heard of, Mickey didn’t bother hiding his marks. He left them out for everyone to see.

Those deep purple eyes went wide when they landed on Tony.

The sound of French curses filled the café. Mickey wasn’t as fast as his partner, nor as naturally graceful, so when he went scrambling for the lift up partition to get around the counter it was no real surprise to hear a few things back there crash. Gwaine rolled his eyes and went to not only open the partition but go back and clean up the mess. Mickey didn’t even acknowledge it. As soon as he was free, he was flying towards Tony. In a flash he had Tony up in his arms just like Gwaine had done, only he gave Tony a quick twirl to go with it.

“Antonino!” Just like Gwaine, he set Tony down and then pulled back to look at him, though he didn’t settle for just touching his face. No, Mickey was patting Tony down everywhere he could reach, checking him over with a concern he didn’t even bother to conceal. “Ah, cher, look at you! Aint you been eating? C’mon, c’mon, get your gorgeous ass on back here an lemme feed you, yeah? Oh, _Dieu_ , I can’t believe you’re really here!”

Laughing, Tony swatted at the hands that were tugging at him. “Well, I was hoping to get a bite to eat, and some of your best coffee, but I figured I’d sit out here for it. Though you guys might not have noticed while you were _mauling_ me, I didn’t actually come here alone.”

It was easy for Tony to free himself from Mickey’s hands. As soon as he did, he reached back and caught hold of Alec’s arm again, dragging the clearly uncomfortable Shadowhunter forward. The look that Gwaine wore darkened into something dark and full of warning, while Mickey didn’t even bat an eye. For his part, Tony put on his best and brightest grin, the same one he used to face down a room full of people he knew would rather stab him in the eye than deal with him, yet they did it anyway because his name carried _Stark_ in it. “Mickey, Gwaine, this giant here is my new friend, Alec. Big guy, these two menaces are some of my closest friends-slash-mother hens.”

Gwaine crossed his arms over his chest. He’d moved to stand more by Mickey’s shoulder now, the gesture clearly protective. “Lightwood.”

The sneer was clear in just that single word. With that, Gwaine made it clear just how little respect he had for anyone by the name of Lightwood. Not just respect, but how little _trust_ he had, too. Everything about him screamed protection for the smaller man he was with. Tony knew that Gwaine would grab Mickey and get him to safety at the first sign of trouble – even if it meant grabbing him and flinging him back, away from the fight. It wouldn’t be the first time it’d happened. Nor would it be the first time they’d fight about it later, too.

Tony was grateful that the only patrons who’d been in here had decided to vacate sometime during Tony’s greetings. If this came to a fight, best it not happen with witnesses. With that in mind, he gave a discreet twitch of his fingers, flipping the sign around to closed and locking the door.

However, the very last thing that Tony wanted was a fight. That hadn’t been the purpose of this visit at all. Tony wasn’t entirely sure _what_ it was he’d wanted when he brought Alec here, he just…it hadn’t been _this_.

Time for some quick damage control.

It was easy for Tony to force his body to relax so that he was resting more of his weight against Alec’s now tense side. The man was standing at attention, hands clasped behind his back yet every inch of him ready to move. He was trying to come off as strong without making himself even more of a threat than his presence already came off as. Tony’s respect for him grew a little. Tony pressed in even more, head resting against Alec’s shoulder, and he shot a glare that wasn’t quite as fake as he’d been going for at his friends. “Sheath your swords, Sir Gwaine,” he drawled out mockingly.

Mickey laid a hand on Gwaine’s arm, giving a light squeeze. “ _Mon tresor,_ take a deep breath, yeah? Our Tony aint gonna bring anyone in here that’s gonna hurt us, y’know that.”

That took some of Gwaine’s tension, but not all of it. He was still staring at Tony, who met his gaze without hesitation. “You trust him?”

Despite the fact that Tony barely knew Alec as a person, he knew some of who he was, and he knew that _Magnus_ knew who he was. Granted, sometimes Magnus could have shit taste in people. Camille, for example, not the only one but definitely one of the worst. But for him to have let Alec in as far as he had, to do what he’d done for him, to let him live there, that said a lot. Plus, Raphael liked him, even if he didn’t admit it out loud. More than that, Raphael _respected_ him.

“I do,” Tony said, without hesitation. He felt Alec jolt a little, and Tony tipped his head to flash him a bright smile. Then he looked back at his friends, both of whom were looking at Tony with clear surprise. They knew how hard it was for Tony to trust people. These two had born witness to some of the terrible things Tony had experienced. They’d met him at one of the lowest points in his teenage years, and they knew just how damaged he’d been from it. For him to so quickly and easily say that he trusted Alec; it meant something.

Because of that, Mickey was already softening, his face warming until he was giving Alec one of the bright, welcoming smiles that had never failed to make Tony feel like he was being hugged. “Well! Any _ami_ of Tony’s is an _ami_ of ours. C’mon in an find yourselves some seats, an I’ll go get some breakfast together. Gwaine, cher, go grab the coffee an get ‘em served, would you? Without the glaring, too! I aint got time to come over there an stroke your feathers, so you’re gonna have to calm down on your own. I hear you runnin’ your mouth out there, so help you…!”

The scolding words continued as Mickey started to drag Gwaine away. Tony watched them go for a second, amusement softening his features. Then he gave his head a shake and set about dragging Alec towards the back booth where Tony always liked to sit. Either side of the booth gave pretty good lines of sight for the whole of the café.

Tony waited until they were sitting down before he smiled apologetically at the man across from him. “Sorry about that. I didn’t really think about the fact that I hadn’t exactly come in here and visited them since I… since I got back. If I had, I wouldn’t have brought you here yet. I know they can be a bit _much_ at first, and Gwaine’s got this thing about Shadowhunters…”

“Tony,” Alec cut in. He sat a bit stiffly, and there was still tension in his shoulders, but his hazel eyes were warm when they focused right on Tony. “It’s fine. Your friends are protective of you. That’s understandable. Besides, I’m not ignorant to what the Lightwood name means for a lot of the older Downworlders.”

“You’re not your family.”

“I’m not,” Alec agreed. “But I am their legacy. I might not have committed their sins, but it’s up to me and my siblings to do our best to atone for them, in any way we can.”

Gwaine was suddenly by their side, two mugs of coffee in his hands, and his eyes right on Alec. “That’s a lot of atonement to work towards.”

There was no flinch on Alec’s part as he looked up. His gaze was steady, and honest. “I know.”

“All right, boys, that’s enough,” Tony cut in. He reached up, neatly plucking both mugs from Gwaine’s hands and passing one over to Alec. “We get the picture. You don’t like Shadowhunters, and you don’t trust him. Great. Super. If that’s all you’ve got to say, I’m sure Mick has better things for you to be doing.” Tony gave Gwaine a sharp look with that last part, making damn sure that his friend understood he wasn’t going to put up with this.

A low shout of “Gwaine!” from the back drew the vampire away from the table before he had time to think of a response.

As soon as he was gone, Tony sighed heavily. “I’m sorry.” The words were just a bit heavy with the remnants of his sigh clinging to them. Tony had to resist the urge to reach up and rub at the bridge of his nose where a headache was starting to build. “I know you said you’re fine with it, but no matter whether they’re my friends or not, they’ve got no right to treat you like that.” Then, because Tony knew that Gwaine could hear him even if he wasn’t close, Tony added on, “It’s just as bad as if you treated them badly for being Downworlders. Prejudice runs both ways.”

“It’s less prejudice and more… a justified fear.” There was a heaviness to Alec’s words that spoke of the kind of knowledge that not many seemed to have. While he might’ve been a typical Shadowhunter once – Tony didn’t know, he didn’t know much about him yet – he’d clearly learned what life was like for Downworlders. What it was like for those that others considered _less_.

Tony couldn’t argue his words, either. To do that would be to brush off the suffering of others. Instead, he settled for sighing again. “This is too heavy for a morning-coffee talk. I need more alcohol if we’re gonna keep this up.”

To his pleasure, a ghost of a grin touched Alec’s lips. “Is it just a warlock trait, to be able to out-drink the world?”

“More like a Bane family trait, sweetheart,” Tony said, flashing a smile of his own.

There was a moment where Alec just looked at him with those startingly sharp eyes. Then, head tilted ever so slightly to the side, he asked: “You really consider him like a father, don’t you?”

The question hadn’t been what Tony had been expecting. Sure, he’d already learned that Alec had this tendency to blurt out surprisingly insightful things, but he also tended to lean more towards stammering when it came to the more personal things. Or, at least, he had last night, and any other time they’d talked for a bit. But maybe that was just when Magnus was around. Maybe with others, he had confidence.

Either way, the question threw Tony, but it didn’t stop him from answering easily and honestly. “Yes.” The way the word came so easily to him had Tony wanting to flush a little, though somehow he managed to hold that back. Instead, he shifted in his seat, and he adopted a bored, I-don’t-care look as he shrugged one shoulder. “Not like Howard Stark ever really wanted the job anyway. Why not give it to someone who does?”

“I’m sorry.”

Again, Tony shrugged. “I’m not.” He wrapped his hands around his mug and drew it up so that he could blow on it to get it to cool enough for the first drink. Those two words were full of so much honesty. To Tony, no truer words had ever been spoken. He wasn’t sorry that Howard Stark hadn’t ever wanted him as a son. Had it hurt? Sure. Of course it did. But Tony had long ago stopped thinking of that man as his father. Howard wasn’t responsible for siring him, and he sure as hell wasn’t responsible for _raising_ him. No one knew who was accountable for the first one, but the second? That had gone to Jarvis, and to Magnus, and sometimes Maria. Even Catarina and Raphael had played a bigger part than Howard ever had. Bigger than Maria, too, if he were being honest.

Tony had never blamed Maria for the distance she’d put between them. Not once he’d found out just how he’d been conceived.

Maria had never hurt Tony. She’d loved him – wholly and absolutely. But what she’d went through, Tony’s birth afterward, finding out the truth of it all, those things had changed her. In a way, Tony thought that they might’ve broken parts of her. While she’d still been able to play the society wife she needed to be, she’d turned into a shell of her old self at home. One that was hidden behind alcohol and medication. When she’d surfaced from the cloud of those, she had loved her son with every inch of her broken heart, and oh, Tony had loved her in return. But he’d always had the knowledge that his existence had been the reason she was as broken as she was.

The arrival of their food dragged Tony away from his thoughts. He looked up just in time to see Mickey setting down a tray in front of them that was packed full of all sorts of breakfast foods. Muffins, pastries, all different kinds of sweet and savory things.

The man himself was beaming down at them with that bright, wide grin that almost made his eyes disappear in happy little wrinkles. “I made a whole selection of things this mornin’, plus a few new ones you aint tried before. Lemme know whatcha think, _oui_?”

“ _Oui_ ,” Tony said easily. It was never a hardship to try anything that Mickey made. The man was a _genius_ in the kitchen.

To his surprise, Mickey only beamed at him one last time, and then he was disappearing back towards the kitchen again, calling out to Gwaine as he went.

When Tony turned his attention back to the table, he found Alec curiously looking over each bit of food. He seemed to be torn between impressed by the looks of some, and worried by others. It was a combination Tony could both understand respect. Grinning, Tony held on to his mug and sat back in his seat, one eyebrow going up. “Problems, Shadowhunter?”

Alec clearly debated his next words carefully. When he finally spoke, his voice was dry, serious, and yet there was a twinkle in his eye that spoke of an inner mischievousness that Tony found himself wanting to encourage. “I’m debating what exactly is going to happen to me if I eat anything off this tray of food made by your clearly protective friends.”

“I have no idea what you mean.” Tony held Alec’s gaze as he slowly and deliberately reached out and picked up what looked like a little donut hole, popping it into his mouth.

The way that Alec watched him made it clear that he wasn’t an idiot, and he knew what Tony was doing, yet it didn’t stop him from holding Tony’s gaze as he, too, reached out. Tony had to admit he was surprised by the fact that Alec didn’t even falter as he picked up a pastry and took a bite right out of it. The respect Tony had for the man went up another notch. “I’m beginning to see what _babbo_ sees in you,” Tony told him.

The blush that got him had Tony laughing.


	10. Chapter 10

The rest of breakfast actually went by easily. Tony and Alec shared the plate of food, and Tony broke down eventually and told him what the different foods were, as well as their different special traits. “Mickey doesn’t really put any big spells or anything in his food,” Tony reassured the other man. “It’s more… pick-me-ups. Little things to help relieve stress, or clear your mind, or a bit of luck. Not all the time, either. Sometimes he does it if he thinks someone needs it, and sometimes he’s done it for requests. There are a few he keeps in stock, though. Like the cookies that help clear your mind that he puts out when it’s close to the local college’s finals time.”

“That’s… that’s really cool.”

Alec’s tone had bled such honesty and respect that Tony had been a bit dumbfounded. He wasn’t used to anyone outside of other warlocks being so appreciative of things like that. Too many out there either judged on what the warlock chose to do with their powers, or how much they charged for it, or that they charged at all. What Tony knew of Shadowhunters, there weren’t exactly many of them out there that would approve of something like this.

Yet here Alec was, sitting across from a warlock he barely knew, trusting him when he said that his other warlock friend – who Alec didn’t know _at all_ – was putting potions in his food, but that they weren’t harmful. Alec was actually trusting that and _eating the food_ like it was no big deal.

They didn’t just talk about the food the whole time. They talked about a multitude of other things, too. Just the kind of inane chatter that Tony had shared with Rhodey plenty of times back in college. They talked about themselves, getting to know one another almost like they were on some sort of date, and they talked about their work. Alec seemed fascinated by Tony’s descriptions of SI. Despite himself, Tony found that he was expanding on those ideas, rambling on and on about the new directions he wanted to take SI in. All the types of clean energy that he thought he might be able to come up with.

What’s more – Alec didn’t shut Tony up, the way that most people did.

He just let Tony talk on and on and on. Even when Tony realized sometimes that he was losing him, his words getting too technical, or touching onto things that the nephilim had never had any reason to encounter, Alec didn’t look upset by it, or bored. He asked questions in an effort to understand more.

In turn, Tony poked and prodded, getting Alec to open up a little about what it was like being the Head of an Institute. Which inevitably led to talk of his Downworld Council, something that fascinated Tony endlessly.

That was the part that began to draw Gwaine and Mickey back towards the table. Mickey came first, coming to refill their coffee and shamelessly interject himself right into the conversation. “It’s a nice thing you’re doin’, cher,” he told Alec.

Alec blushed, something that Tony was noticing happened just about any time someone complimented the man. “I’m just doing what should’ve been done a long time ago,” Alec demurred, shrugging like that would somehow shrug away his involvement in things. “It’s not much. I mean, in comparison to what everyone on the council has gone through, this is like a pittance.”

“It’s more than any other Shadowhunters has ever done for us,” Gwaine chimed in. He’d crept up at some point, appearing behind Mickey’s shoulder.

Rolling his eyes, Mickey elbowed Gwaine even as he leaned in to him. “Ignore him. Even if he don’t seem like it, we’re pleased with what you’re doin’. We’re old enough to remember the uprisin’, both of us. Gwaine don’t want to see nothin’ like that again, an it makes it hard fo’ him to go trustin’ a Shadowhunter. _Moi_? I think you’re different. Nothin’ like the Shadowhunters we’ve known, yeah? Besides, if the _petit_ trusts you enough to bring you here, well, it counts for somethin’ in my books.”

Though Gwaine had glared at Mickey for elbowing him, it didn’t stop the vampire from slipping an arm around his partner’s waist and holding him close. The two fit together; like two puzzle pieces. Despite how opposite they were in so many different ways, not just in looks but in public personality, they were far more alike than many realized, and they were perfect for each other.

“What you’re doing is a good thing,” Gwaine said, steady and sure. He kept his arm around Mickey, but he straightened up a bit, and Alec unconsciously did the same. “You’re giving a voice to people who didn’t have one. But, are you planning on opening it up to the other clans in the city, too?”

Surprise flashed over Alec’s face just briefly. It was there and gone again so fast Tony wasn’t sure if he’d actually seen it or not. The next second, there was a calmness that hadn’t been there before, and a clear interest. Alec folded his arms and leaned forward on the table. Somehow, he managed to make it look more like he was leaning on a desk inside of some big, important office. It was a skill that Tony had worked hard to perfect, and Alec did it with an ease that Tony envied just a little. “I was under the impression I was speaking with the leaders of the New York clans. Was I wrong in that assumption?”

Their breakfast was quickly transforming from pleasure to business. However, it was _important_ business, and Tony respected that. He scooted himself over and gave Mickey’s fingers a tug, signaling for the man to sink down beside him. Even as he did, Mickey was using his magic to bring a chair over for Gwaine to sink down into. With the door still locked they were free to sit there and talk without any interruptions.

Gwaine took the seat that Mickey gave him. Once he did, he sat back, one leg crossing over the other, and his arms crossing over his chest. He looked both elegant and dangerous; a rather pretty combination, Tony thought. “Not wrong, so to speak. Luke Garroway _is_ the head Alpha of the New York pack. They have smaller factions, at least that I know of, and a few unaligned wolves here and there, but even those factions report back to him. But the vampires? Raphael’s coven doesn’t cover the entirety of New York. If anything, it covers Manhattan. That still leaves four other boroughs. The same goes for the warlocks. Magnus Bane is the High Warlock of Brooklyn – what about the other boroughs?”

“We don’t have any records of any other High Warlocks in New York,” Alec said.

Snorting, Gwaine cocked one eyebrow. “So the other warlocks don’t get representation, then? Bane might know his own people, but it doesn’t mean he has the best interest of all the warlocks. Especially since he’s never even met some of them.”

There was no mistaking why Gwaine was taking up such a stance on this. Even if there had been, the way his eyes darted to Mickey made it clear just who he was thinking of.

For his part, Mickey smiled in amusement, yet he didn’t contradict his partner. He settled back in his seat, one arm up on the back of the booth so that he could toy with Tony’s hair. When Alec looked towards him with open surprise, the smile Mickey wore grew. “We aint never properly met, the High Warlock an me. Can you imagine? It’d be a lot of awesome in one room, yeah?”

Alec’s eyes slid towards Tony. “You’ve never brought him here?”

Feeling all three eyes on him had Tony shifting uncomfortably. He tried to cover it up by draining the last of his coffee and then watching as the mug magically refilled itself. Mickey’s enchanted mugs were a good source of business for him. “I told you before we came in,” Tony said, trying to sound casual, hoping that Alec would just leave it at that. He couldn’t quite explain why. Just like he couldn’t explain why he’d chosen this, of all places, to bring Alec to. It’d been an impulsive decision on his part. One that he wasn’t regretting, but that he didn’t really want to look too closely at.

When he snuck a look up at Alec, the Shadowhunter’s face was a mask, but there was something around his eyes that gave away his surprise.

But that was all Alec gave away. A moment later he’d turned back to the others and he had his business face on again. “Is there someone that speaks for the other boroughs? Someone I might be able to contact? I have no problem expanding the council or setting up separate meetings even for the different boroughs, but I can’t talk to people I don’t know exist.”

Mickey and Gwaine shared a look of silent communication. The kind that seemed to happen with couples who’d been together long enough. Whatever they talked about, it was delivered in a series of head tilts, eyebrows, pursed lips, and shoulder shrugs. But they’d clearly reached some kind of accord by the time they turned back to Alec.

It was Mickey who answered him. “There’s a few people I might be able to put you in contact with, least in the warlock community. For others, might be that you gotta spread out the word, see who might be interested.”

“Why not leave it up to them?” Tony asked.

All eyes turned to him, Alec looking confused with his furrowed brow, and Mickey and Gwaine cocking one eyebrow each in a look that was scarily identical.

Tony scowled and pointed a finger at them. “Okay, you two, that’s enough of your creepy-couple mirror shit. Don’t give me that look. It’s a solid idea. I mean,” for this, he looked back at Alec, waving one hand in an absentminded gesture. “If you want proper representation for each faction, why don’t you give them the option to elect their own representative instead of just trying to pick and choose who you want? Each group could vote, say, two representatives of their own in that way to sit on your Cabinet. Not only does that give them the chance to pick someone who they’ll feel will represent them properly, it’ll make them feel like you give a damn about all of them, not just the groups you have friends in, and it’ll show the Downworld that you’re doing this for _them_ , not just to try and look good.”

Silence fell over the table. This time, there wasn’t confusion on their faces as they were staring at him. There was something like surprise from Mickey, followed quickly by speculation and a brightness that made it clear how much he was liking the idea. Gwaine had something akin to pride in his eyes, and in the upward turn of his lips. The nod he gave Tony was like a pat to the back, an acknowledgement of a good idea, and Tony pointedly ignored how warm that made him feel.

It was Alec’s reaction that really got to Tony, though. He looked fascinated by the idea and _interested_. “It’s a solid idea,” Alec said. His coffee was forgotten in front of him, and he was sitting up straighter, his gaze sharp and yet far away at the same time, clearly running this all through his head. “I know the warlocks have their own council. Do the other groups have their own as well?”

“They do,” Gwaine said. He didn’t expand on it.

Alec nodded and didn’t press. “I can talk to the Cabinet at our next meeting, see what they think about this, and put forward the idea of them going to their various councils to see what this might take. But it’s a solid idea. If we want proper representation for everyone, we need to do it right.”

A buzzing in Tony’s pocket distracted him from the others. He pulled his phone out, ignoring it as the trio with him continued to talk, and focused on the message that was waiting.

**_Are you planning on keeping my boyfriend all to yourself this morning? – Maggie_ **

Tony didn’t bother smothering his grin. His fingers moved quickly as he typed out his reply.

_Maybe. He is awfully pretty to look at – TS_

**_Isn’t he just?? ;) – Maggie_ **

_Is that all you wanted? To whine? We’re busy here! Go get your own coffee date – TS_

**_I will fight you – Maggie_ **

_You’d have to find me, first – TS_

Then, because Tony couldn’t help it and he was in a good enough mood to want to be even more of a brat, he looked up from his phone and grinned at Alec. “Hey, Alec, come here for a sec,” Tony said, waving his hand to encourage Alec to lean in, not caring that he’d interrupted them. Alec looked confused, yet he leaned in towards Tony, the two of them meeting in the middle of the table.

Tony dropped his head against Alec’s, and he lifted up his mug in his free hand, his other hand going out to hold the phone in front of them. “Smile!”

“Why?” Alec asked slowly.

“Because Maggie’s threatening my honor and I need to retaliate.”

The prompt answer drew more than a few laughs. Tony made sure to snap the picture right when Alec’s lips quirked up into an unconscious grin – the exact result that Tony had been looking for. As soon as he had the picture he sat back in his seat and sent it, along with a few kissing emojis. Tony smothered his chuckles when he hit send. He looked up, eyes sparkling with humor, to find his friends watching him in amusement. “Havin’ fun?” Mickey asked teasingly.

Tony grinned at him. “Always.”

That little moment of levity broke the moment the others had been sharing. Alec, reminded of the presence of others thanks to that quick photo, pointed out “We should probably get back. I’m betting everyone’s awake by now.”

That was how Tony found himself standing near the front of the store with a bag of treats in hand. Alec had been given a tray of coffees for everyone, and he was holding on to them while waiting outside to give Tony a moment of privacy with his two friends. The gesture was more than appreciated. It allowed Tony to set down his things and just, let himself get wrapped up by Mickey and Gwaine both. They pulled Tony in against them both in a way that made him feel small and sheltered.

“We’re glad you’re okay,” Mickey said, pressing a kiss to Tony’s hair. “Don’t worry us like that again, cher, yeah? I don’t wanna go searching through no deserts again.”

Tony blinked his eyes a few times in surprise. He drew back, though he didn’t completely pull away. Had he heard him right? “Searching… what?”

Snorting, Gwaine reached up and tugged on Tony’s ear. “What, you think we were just gonna give up on you, brat? We knew your pops was busy stuck in the shithole of all that Valentine mess. There was no way he could safely do a whole lot. Plus, we were pretty sure you had JARVIS on radio silence for him.”

“Besides, it aint like we’re gonna just leave your safety to everyone else,” Mickey chimed in. “Saffron an I portaled everyone over, an we scouted as best we could. Gwaine an Elara did some night searches, an Saffron an I took Aella and Jada with us, but they couldn’t pick up a scent out on all that sand, yeah?”

Tony couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t sure why, he just, he couldn’t. Logically, he knew that Rhodey had helped look for him, just as he knew that life had kept Magnus from finding out about things right away, and then he hadn’t exactly been in a position to look – though Tony wouldn’t be surprised to find out that he had. Likely when he should’ve been doing important things like sleeping. But to have Mickey and Gwaine stand here and talk so casually about trying to find him… it put a lump in Tony’s throat he couldn’t quite speak around.

Sometimes, Tony was a bit ashamed to forget just what good friends he had here. It was easy when he was across the country and only had Rhodey or Pepper there with him. He could almost forget the small network of people that he had in New York.

There were Gwaine and Mickey, who’d been there for him through such hard times, who loved him and who allowed him to invade their life and sometimes even their bed – though not for sex, not ever – like it was perfectly okay.

And then there were his favorite girls – Saffron, Aella, Elara, and Jada, four amazing beings who had their own unique friendship and who had somehow adopted Tony into it all those years ago.

It never mattered how far apart they all drifted. It could be two days, or two years – it didn’t matter. Every time Tony went to see them, they acted like he’d never been gone, like he hadn’t blatantly or accidentally ignored their friendship. They welcomed him back and loved him and offered him a place where he was safe to just be _Tony_.

Thinking of them, of what these amazing people had done for him, had Tony fighting to control himself. “I should go see them,” he said, voice a bit hoarse. He’d kind of wanted to go this morning; thought about taking Alec over there for him to meet them, though he couldn’t explain why. He couldn’t even explain why he’d brought Alec _here_.

Mickey gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Go, spend time with your family, cher. We’ll let ‘em know you’ll be by when you can.”

With a few more hugs Tony found himself back out on the street with Alec by his side. Alec didn’t seem to feel the need to ask Tony about what his friends had wanted him to stay behind for, or about why Tony had taken him here, or any of that. He just walked quietly with Tony until they reached a good spot to make a discreet portal.

Tony went through the familiar gestures to make a portal. Once it was open, he almost stepped through, only to pause right in front of it. Though he didn’t turn to Alec, he couldn’t stop himself from murmuring a low “Thank you.”

Not sure if Alec even heard him, Tony took a deep breath and stepped through the portal…

…and into the living room of the loft.

They’d barely made it out of the portal before they were being swarmed. “Oooooh, thank the angel, coffee!” Isabelle called out. She was making grabby hands as she lunged towards Alec, who was laughing and twisting to catch her with his elbow, keeping her back long enough for him to pluck out one of the cups from the carry-case and pass it towards her. Then Jace was there to grab his, and Alec was passing one back to Clary, too, and Magnus.

Tony snapped the portal away and skirted the edge of the group to toss his bag of goodies down on the coffee table. He reached inside and pulled out a special, smaller bag, holding it as he turned and let out a whistle.

Everyone’s eyes shot over towards him, but Tony only paid attention long enough to toss the bag at Magnus, who caught it easily. “Your boozy jellies are in there, plus a few new things to test out.”

The way that Magnus’ eyes lit up made Tony smile. Even though Magnus had never met Mickey or Gwaine, it hadn’t stopped Mickey from passing food on _through_ Tony under the guise of needing a strong warlock to test and see if he could taste the magic Mickey used on things, or the random special herbs he threw in. Magnus had fallen in love with Mickey’s food – especially his mulled wine jellied candies.

“There’s also a box of new cupcakes here he’s not sure about yet, so he thought we might try them and let him know,” Tony added on, gesturing at the bag.

Mentioning cupcakes seemed to be the way to bring everyone over. Magnus shamelessly beat everyone there and dropped down onto the couch right beside Tony, leaning in to look down in the bag. Tony grinned and swatted him away. “Just be patient.”

“For magical cupcakes?” Magnus shot Tony a look that clearly asked just how stupid he was. Then he looked out at the others and explained. “Anthony has a very dear friend who happens to be one of the best bakers I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating from. Whenever Anthony visits him, he brings back treats, and I test them out to see if I can tell what kind of magic he uses in them. He likes his spells to be subtle and safe, and I’m quite willing to check them for him. He makes a _delicious_ peach-bourbon cupcake with just a hint of pick-me-up to it.”

Tony snuck a look up in time to see the surprise flash on a few faces. Only Alec continued to look quietly amused by everyone.

“He puts spells in his food?” Jace asked, hesitating with his coffee right in front of his mouth.

Tony grinned at him. “Don’t worry, Shadowhunter. No one cursed your coffee.” Carefully dropping down beside Magnus, Tony pulled out the container with the cupcakes. A quick look showed him that there was enough for most of them to have half, and for him and Magnus to each have a whole one if they wished. Sue him – he wasn’t going to share his cupcake! Snapping up a knife and some plates, Tony set about cutting up a serving for everyone. “Besides, you don’t really have to worry. Mick’s more of an herbalist. He likes to put certain herbs in things to get good flavor and a unique result. He only boosts it a little with magic.”

“Cookies that help with exhaustion, cakes that cure a headache, drinks that give people a happiness boost,” Magnus explained.

Nodding, Tony passed the first plate over to Magnus, who took it and passed it along to the others. “These are Bloody Mary cupcakes, with a cayenne frosting,” Tony said, flashing them a grin. “Hope you guys can handle a little spice and a special, secret ingredient.”

As everyone dove into their cupcakes with bright smiles – followed quickly by happy little moans – Tony grinned to himself and sat back in his seat. He felt a surprising sense of peace watching this strange little group here practically devouring cupcakes made by a warlock, _knowing_ as they did that the food was spelled, yet still trying it. Still _enjoying_ it.

Things had changed while Tony was gone. Some of them he still wasn’t quite sure were good. But this? This little group here, the family that Magnus had found for himself?

Tony watched Isabelle lean over and shamelessly try and steal some of Magnus’ cupcake, only to get swatted away and then move to peek in his other bag instead, and the smile on Tony’s lips grew a bit warmer.

This? This was good.


	11. Chapter 11

The next few days were exactly the sort of peace that Tony needed.

Just because Tony was there didn’t mean that Magnus stopped working. He still saw a few clients, albeit not as much as he normally might have. Tony tended to stay out of the way for those moments, going into his own workshop and doing a bit more work on the Iron Man suits, or tweaking his ideas for a Shadowhunter friendly phone, but when it came time for Magnus to either make a potion for the client, or summon something, Tony generally came out with him.

Some of Tony’s favorite memories growing up were of being in Magnus’ workshop with him. Standing on a stool, or sitting on a table, and watching him work. Seeing the way he wove magic into everything that he did. Or, helping him mix up potions, handing him ingredients. They’d work together and talk for hours about anything and everything. Tony had shared some of his greatest secrets over a potion.

The peace that Tony found in Magnus’ loft was everything that he’d needed after the past few months of hell. For the first time since it all started, Tony felt like he could _breathe_ again. The little broken pieces that he’d been clutching so tightly, he was finally able to start piecing them back together. Piecing _himself_ back together.

In the process, he got a chance to get to know the rest of Magnus’ new family. Alec practically lived at the loft, though there were times where he didn’t get in until the wee hours of the morning. Being Head of the Institute meant a lot of work. Not just in the office, but occasionally out in the field, too. Still, when he was home, he didn’t just lock himself away with Magnus, nor did he seem to begrudge any of the time that Tony spent with them. The two often ended up talking over morning coffee while Magnus was still in bed.

Tony found a friend in Alec; something he hadn’t been expecting when he’d come to stay. But Alec was sharp, quick-witted, with a dry sense of humor that could sometimes easily be missed, and the man was saltier than the ocean. He was blunt to the point of rudeness sometimes, not seeming to always think about words before they came out of his mouth, yet that bluntness was _honest_ , and Tony could appreciate that trait. This was a man who would always tell it like it was, even if that truth hurt. More than that, he’d be there afterward to try and help make you feel better. He wasn’t extremely physical, yet he didn’t seem to mind if Tony was. He blushed sometimes, or stammered a bit, yet he didn’t stop Tony from touching his hand, or his shoulder, or anything like that.

Though Tony had always been a physical person with those he loved, he was generally more reserved with the rest of the world. He knew how _needy_ he could get sometimes. Usually, he satisfied his need for being touched by going out partying, drinking, having sex. Right now… sex was the last thing on his mind. He wasn’t sure when he’d be willing to go out and have it again, either. Especially with this light in his chest and a whole new wealth of scars and issues needing to be kept hidden.

So, he fulfilled his need by touching with Magnus almost constantly. Magnus didn’t care – he reciprocated it without hesitation or embarrassment. They’d grab hands, bump shoulders, cuddle, kick their feet up on the other’s lap. And as Tony grew more comfortable with Alec, he also grew more comfortable taking those touches from him, too.

But, as with all things, reality returned for Tony soon enough. His ten-day-vacation finally started to draw to an end. The little paradise he’d found for himself here was going to be over, and he was going to have to go back to the real world. Back to Stark Industries, to a board that was furious with him for trying to take them away from weapons and into other things. Back to a world that was still running on the shock and awe of _I am Iron Man._

Back to facing his mistakes and trying to find a way to fix them, to make it better, to not waste the gift Yinsen had given him.

* * *

Magnus, of course, insisted on a party. Any other time, and in any other situation, Tony probably would’ve been quite happy going to Pandemonium and having a farewell bash there. Now? Now, he wasn’t quite sure he wanted to do something like that, with all the strangers he’d have to put his masks up for.

He should’ve known that Magnus knew better, even without having to ask.

On Tony’s last night there, the loft was opened up for a party that consisted only of family and friends. The Shadowhunters were there, of course. Alec, Jace, Isabelle, Clary. Simon and Raphael came as well. Catarina came, and she brought an adorable young girl with her named Madzie who practically attacked Alec when she saw him and had yet to let go.

They weren’t a large bunch. Certainly, Tony had been to bigger parties. And yet… it was perfect. It was exactly what Tony needed.

The loft was lit up with warm, twinkling fairy lights. The table was spread out in the open part of the loft, and full of finger foods, most of which Tony wasn’t surprised to see came from Mickey’s shop. The idea of Alec going down there to order food for Tony’s party was enough to make the genius grin. Judging by the disgruntled look that Magnus shot the table when Alec set everything out, Tony was pretty sure Alec hadn’t taken Magnus with him, respecting the fact that Tony had told him how he’d never taken Magnus there.

A warm presence up against Tony’s side drew him out of his inspection of the room. When he snuck a look over, he found Magnus beside him, though the older warlock was looking at the table of food. Still, he held two drinks in his hand, and he extended one to Tony. “You know, I’m not sure if I should be offended or not that Alexander got to meet your friends before _I_ did.” The quick dart of Magnus’ eyes – unglamoured, a sign of just how much he trusted those around him – showed the teasing behind his words.

Tony let a smile curve his lips. “Maybe I like him better.” He took the offered drink and gave a happy hum when he sipped off it. Usually he wasn’t one for cocktails, preferring his drinks straight, but Magnus had a way of mixing one hell of a drink.

“Bite your tongue,” Magnus said, finally turning so that he could mock glare at him. “I’m amazing.”

Chuckling, Tony ran his eyes over the crowd, all of whom were spread out eating and drinking and talking. There was music playing low and easy from around them. Something heavy, with a saxophone that made Tony’s fingers itch to play.

Across the room it looked like Isabelle was telling a story to Simon and Raphael. Whatever it was, she was excited about it, hands swinging up in the air and a big grin lighting up her face. Jace and Clary were swaying together in a sweet slow dance that Tony promised himself not to mock them for later. And Alec was with Catarina and Madzie, still holding on to the little girl who was already starting to fall asleep with her head on his shoulder.

Magnus must’ve either been looking in the same place, or followed Tony’s gaze, because he let out a low chuckle. “That’s the only reason Cat even brought her. She knew it’d take no time at all before she knocked right out. She’ll sleep away the rest of the party in my bed.”

“She seems like a sweet girl.”

“You barely said two words to her,” Magnus pointed out.

Of course he hadn’t! Tony and kids didn’t mix. Not unless they had to. He was no kind of influence for a child her size. Much better when they were older and had the ability to snark right back at him. “I have eyes,” Tony said instead, not even trying to pretend to deny what Magnus said. “She seems sweet enough. Especially around the big bad Shadowhunter.” Unable to resist, Tony shot Magnus a smirk. “Seems like he’s _her_ favorite, too.”

The cuff to the head was expected, and Tony mostly dodged it, laughing a little as he did. Magnus was chuckling as well even as he said: “Insolent brat.”

Still laughing, Tony stuck his tongue out before he slipped quickly away, heading out to start mingling and making his rounds. If there was one thing Tony knew how to do, it was how to work a party.

He went to Raphael’s side first. It always amused him to toss his brother slightly outside his comfort zone. That was done easily enough; all Tony had to do was slip up to his side and then slide an arm around Raphael’s waist for a quick cuddle in. Instinct had Raphael bringing an arm up around Tony as well, which meant that Tony got an actual, proper cuddle, even if only for a few seconds until Raphael realized what he was doing, and that people could see him.

Tony grinned as he laid his head against Raphael’s shoulder. “Hey, guys. Thanks for coming tonight.”

Isabelle beamed brightly at him. “Are you kidding? We were thrilled to come.”

“Yeah, man, what she said,” Simon chimed in.

When there was no comment from Raphael, Tony pressed in a bit closer and tilted his head up. He found his brother watching him with something between fondness and annoyance. So, pretty much a normal expression where Raphael was concerned. “I’m not feeding your ego,” Raphael told him flatly. He squeezed his arm, drawing his elbow down between them just enough that he could get his hand in and start to push Tony away. “Go whore up to someone else.”

The words clearly surprised the two watching them. Tony, however, laughed. He darted in fast enough to catch Raphael’s face with his hand and hold it still for a quick kiss against his cheek. “Love you too, _fratello_!”

Raphael gave him a long-suffering look as Tony darted back. “Don’t make me stab you in front of your friends.”

The others seemed to finally be catching on that this was a game for them. Raphael’s deadpan delivery didn’t help, though, but when Tony shamelessly moved to half hide behind Isabelle, it had the woman grinning. “I’ll tell _babbo_ ,” Tony threatened.

“What are you, five?”

Tony just wiggled his eyebrows at him. It had Simon chuckling – which he quickly smothered in his drink when Raphael turned his glare towards him – and it made Isabelle laugh out loud. “You two are ridiculous,” she told them cheerfully. “You remind me of Alec and I when we were younger. Or him and Jace sometimes _now_.”

“Ew.” Tony wrinkled his nose. Turning, he shot her a look of betrayal. “You’re comparing us to Alec and Blondie? Really?”

Isabelle rolled her eyes. “He’s not that bad, you know.”

He really wasn’t – Tony knew that. He didn’t actually have a problem with Jace. Not like he played it off as. However, that didn’t mean that the Shadowhunter didn’t annoy him. In his better moments, Tony could admit they were just a bit too much alike. Jace hid his softer self underneath humor and attitude the same way that Tony did.

Tony’s thoughts were cut off by Simon, who was looking at him curiously. “If you don’t mind my asking, how old are you, exactly?” Simon asked. When Tony raised his eyebrows at him, surprised by the blunt question, Simon flushed. “Not that it’s any of my business, I know, and it’s probably totally rude of me to ask like that. It’s just, you’re like a, a household name. The whole world watched you grow up. But you seem different here. Older in some ways, and younger in others, and I just, I thought maybe… I don’t know. I thought maybe you might be older than you look?”

It was kind of amusing to Tony to realize that they’d drawn the attention of the others in the room. Jace and Clary were no longer dancing; they were watching him curiously, clearly wanting to hear the answer to Simon’s question. Magnus was grinning, Alec actually snorted and shook his head, and Catarina started to laugh lightly to herself. Even Raphael rolled his eyes while smiling.

Tony, for his part, let his lips stretch into the kind of grin he knew was good at pissing people off. It was one that said you probably shouldn’t believe a word that was about to come out of his mouth. “A gentleman never divulges his age, kiddo. Besides…” Tony wiggled his eyebrows at him. “Where’d be the fun in telling?”

“You’ll never get an honest answer out of him,” Alec said dryly. “He was raised by _Magnus_.”

Neither man took offense to that. Magnus was a bit legendary for lying about his age. He’d happily answer – he just never gave the same number twice. Not that Tony would’ve taken offense to it anyway; there were way worse things than being compared to Magnus. “I learned from the best,” he said instead, lifting his glass in a ‘cheers’ towards his father figure and getting the same gesture in return.

* * *

Conversation fell into an easy sort of playful bickering that was only made easier by the alcohol that was flowing through the room. At some point, Madzie had been taken back to the bedroom, and the alcohol began to flow more freely. Tony built up a pretty good buzz from it all.

The more they drank, the more question everyone seemed to ask, and the more stories that came out. Tony found himself lounging against the bar, laughing as Magnus and Raphael competed to tell yet another story about Tony’s teenage years. Magnus had started the story mostly as a way to discreetly prevent the minor interrogation that seemed to be happening – the more that Isabelle drank, the more curious she’d become, and Tony was new enough to their group to be an easy target.

While everyone listened to Magnus tell his story, Tony took advantage of the moment to slip back and away, moving discreetly towards the balcony doors.

The first wave of fresh air slapped against Tony’s cheeks. He shivered a little from the coolness of it. It was cold, but it felt good, and it worked to clear his head just a bit. Glancing down at his glass, Tony acknowledged that he’d probably had a few too many. It was just easier sometimes to take a drink than to answer the questions that kept getting thrown his way, and they’d had a _lot_ of questions.

Tony took a deep breath and moved to stand at the banister. He leaned down and let his weight come to rest on his forearms, drink cradled between his hands. There was a peace to be found in just standing here. One that Tony happily wrapped around him.

Tomorrow, he had to go back to the real world. Back to being _Tony Stark_. There were already messages from Pepper on his phone, and JARVIS had scheduled a couple meetings for tomorrow. Once Tony went back home, he’d have to be back _on_ , sharp and functioning. There wouldn’t be time for little moments like this. No more time for playing, or healing, or indulging in the terrified part of him that sometimes still felt like he hadn’t quite made it home from the desert.

Ducking his head, and blowing out a shaky breath, Tony tightened his grip on his glass. He wasn’t sure he was ready for all that. Most days… most days he still didn’t feel quite _whole_. Just because he’d had time to piece himself together didn’t mean that the glue was strong. He felt like a broken vase that someone had tried to hastily glue back together. Cracked, barely held together, and liable to shatter with one wrong move.

Tony was jerked out of his thoughts by the sound of the balcony door sliding open. The sound startled him, yet it wasn’t unexpected. He’d sort of anticipated that one of his family members would follow him out there. If he’d had to bet, Tony would’ve put down money on it being Catarina. So when Tony turned himself to see who it was, he was surprised to find that it wasn’t Catarina, or even Magnus or Raphael – it was _Alec_.

“Hey,” Alec said, smiling in that shy yet friendly way of his. “I was wondering where you’d run off to.”

Tony gave him a smile back while trying to draw himself together. “Just getting a bit of fresh air.”

“Yeah, I can imagine. It ah, got a bit much.” Alec stopped at the railing beside Tony, only he didn’t bend down and join him. Instead, he turned his back to it and leaned back against the banister, head tilted to look down at Tony. There was a serious look in his eyes when Tony snuck a look up. One that was more open than most people were; it matched the bluntness of his words as he said: “I’m sorry about them. I know they can get a bit invasive sometimes.”

Tony tried to shrug it off. “I’m used to it.” He really was. He’d grown up in the limelight; every conversation with someone was a potential interview. You never knew where your answers were going to be published at, or how they were going to be twisted. Giving away exactly what he wanted and nothing more was an art form Tony had learned at a very young age.

“Doesn’t mean it’s okay,” Alec said. When Tony turned to look at him, Alec gave him a small, just slightly embarrassed smile. “Magnus taught me that.”

Some of the tension drained from Tony’s shoulders as he stood up straight. He let his own smile come out; the soft, real one, not the one he put on for parties, or press, or anywhere else. “He’s good at that.”

“Yeah, he is.”

The way that Alec looked as he said that, the warmth that filled his eyes, only confirmed what Tony had learned this past week. “You’re good for him too, you know.” At Alec’s surprised expression, Tony chuckled. “I’ve been watching you guys this week. You…you make him happy. Happier than I think I’ve ever seen him. He deserves to have someone like you in his life who cares about him, and who takes care of him instead of making him take care of them all the time.”

“He’s easy to care about.”

“Yeah. Just, not many people take the time to see that. They don’t really see beyond the glitter and flash. But you do.”

One corner of Alec’s mouth curved up. In that moment, with the Shadowhunter’s eyes gone soft, and his affection right out there for anyone to see, Tony knew that he was right about him. Alec _was_ good for Magnus. Maybe they’d had their moments, and their fights, and there were still so many differences between them. Too many things that could potentially get in the way – immortality being the least of them all. But looking at Alec in that moment, Tony knew that, for the first time, he didn’t have to worry about the other person running when those bad things came up. Something in his gut told him that Alec would still be there. That he’d fight to stay there at Magnus’ side.

Emotion clogged Tony’s throat. Caught up in the moment, Tony found himself blurting out “Can I hug you?”

At the surprised look that got him, he hurried to explain. “Listening to you talk about Maggie that way, I just, I really wanna hug you, because you’re awesome and amazing and I’ve never seen anyone love him the way he deserves until now. But I also know you’re not the most physical of people, so I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable, which, really, is unusual for me. I usually just go right ahead and make people uncomfortable. It’s fun. But I don’t want to do that with you. So…can I?”

It was hard for Tony to cut off his rambling. Maybe it was the drinks, or maybe it was just Alec himself. He seemed so nice, so easy to talk to, it just sort of demolished the usual walls that Tony put between himself and everyone else. There was something about Alec that made Tony feel like he didn’t have to be _Tony Stark_. He could just be the Anthony he only ever got to be around Magnus.

When Alec opened up one arm, blushing just the slightest bit, Tony didn’t hesitate any longer. He closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms tight around Alec’s waist, burrowing in as close as he could get. The arm that Alec curled around him was a bit stiff, a bit awkward, but no less sincere. “Thank you,” Tony said against Alec’s chest. “Thank you for loving him.”

Alec didn’t say anything in response. He didn’t have to. The two just stood there together and, to Tony’s surprise, he found Alec slowly relaxing the longer they stood there. His arm lost its stiffness. He even tugged Tony in a bit closer until they were more comfortably pressed together. With Alec still mostly sitting against the banister, Tony was easily able to fit between his legs and curl right up against him. It was exactly what Tony needed in that moment. The fact that Alec was giving it to him, that he wasn’t pushing him away, meant a lot. More than the Shadowhunter probably realized.

They were still standing there together when another voice broke the quiet. “Isn’t this a lovely sight to see? Two of my favorite boys getting along so well.”

Jewelry made a small jangling sound as Magnus came up to them. One hand came to rest flat against Tony’s back, below Alec’s arm. With his hand braced there, Magnus leaned in and shared a kiss with Alec over Tony’s head, and then dropped a kiss against Tony’s hair. When Tony still didn’t move, the fingers on his back gave a soft, careful stroke. “Everything all right out here?” Magnus murmured.

Tony was surprised when he felt Alec nod. “I think someone might’ve had more to drink than they were planning on.”

“I figured as much. I’m pretty sure he already had a few the party even started. And drinking either makes him ridiculous or cuddly, depending on who he’s around.”

“Izzy’s the same way.” Alec sounded amused. He even gave Tony a small squeeze, which only served to have Tony pressing in closer. If they were going to tease him about it, he might as well enjoy the cuddles while he could, right? Alec didn’t seem to mind. He just held on and kept talking. “If she’s out in public, or with her friends, getting her drunk leads to trouble, usually. But when she drinks at home, she just kind of… attaches herself to someone and doesn’t let go. She likes the touch, she says.”

This time, Tony knew it was very much the drink to blame for how he found himself blurting out the words he’d meant to keep inside his head. “Mm. ’S nice when people touch me without wantin’ sex.” That wasn’t something that happened all that often.

The hand on his back began to rub in a circular, soothing gesture. When Magnus pressed in close, practically sandwiching Tony between him and Alec, the young warlock gave a low, happy hum, and he just snuggled in and let himself soak up the love and attention that would hopefully help him get through the long weeks to come.

Tomorrow, Tony was going to have to go back to California. Back to Stark Industries, which was still struggling from Obie’s betrayal and all the hell he’d been secretly putting the company through. Back to trying to convince the Board that switching from weapons to better things like household technology or green energy _wasn’t_ a bad idea. Back to Iron Man, and the quest for any other weapons caches around the globe that Tony would need to take care of to ensure that no Stark weapons were left in the hands of anyone but himself.

All of that was waiting for Tony – tomorrow.

For now? For now he cuddled in close between his father and his father’s partner, and he let himself be _Anthony_ , just for a little while longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of this! Thank you so much for sticking with me through it.
> 
> I have another story half done for this that deals with Iron Man 2, plus an AU of this story idea where J suggested that, after a kidnapping when Tony was nine or ten, plus some other angsty stuff, Magnus decides that he's not sending Tony back and raises him himself. The timeline would be tweaked to make it fit, and a 14 year old Tony would be around for Clary Fray's arrival and Valentine's return.
> 
> If you're interested in either of those, let me know! And thank you again for your love, comments, and kudos :)

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think!


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